The Table entity
A Table must belong to a Table-type Data Structure. The management of the historical account and of the century is selected at the Data Structure level and applies to all the Tables that are attached to it. A Table is described only once. It can be called from any entity that uses Tables (Programs, Segments, Tables, Database Blocks). It is a set of Data Elements that are grouped because they are related to the same topic. Many of its characteristics are similar to those of the Segment.
-CE lines
A Table is described in the -CE Lines tab of the Table editor. In a Table, different Data Elements are called: the key Data Element, the information Data Elements, the Data Elements that specify the subsystems, and the technological Data Elements.- Access key Data Element.
The access key Data Element is used to access a table item. An item is an individual location in the Table. The key is indicated on the -CE Lines tab of a Table in the Data Element call section by the value U in the Sort key field. The table access key can be defined as a group Data Element. However, the access key is updated by using its constituting elementary Data Elements. By default, the access key of a Table belongs to all of the subschemas that are defined for the Table. When a Table is generated, its structure or the length of the key cannot be modified.
- Information Data Elements.
These Data Elements represent the information of a Table. They correspond to all the elementary Data Elements. For every information Data Element, you can specify validations in a dedicated wizard. To open the wizard, click More in the Data Element call section in the -CE Lines tab of a Table.
A Data Element that is specified with an OCCURS is considered a single information Data Element with an alphanumeric usage. Its length is equal to the length of the Data Element multiplied by the number of occurrences.
The elementary Data Elements in a group must belong to the same subschemas.
- Data Elements that specify the subsystems.
The information Data Element is used upon update to assign a table item to one or more subsystems. This Data Element is indicated on the -CE Lines tab of a Table in the Data Element call section with the value S in the Sort key field. Its required length is equal to at least the number of the subsystems that are defined for the Table (for the potential assignment of the table item to all the subsystems).
- Technological Data Elements.
These Data Elements correspond to group Data Elements. They are entered in the description of a Table only for technological purposes (programming for example) and are not used by Pactables.
-SS lines
The subschemas and subsystems of a Table are defined on the -SS Lines tab of a Table.- Subschema:
- A subschema is used to select description Data Elements in a Table item. The use of subschemas provides a partial view of the Table data. If a Data Element belongs to a subschema, it is indicated in the logical description of the Table.
- Subsystem:
- A subsystem is a selection of Table items. The user can define several subgroups/subsystems within a Table, each one being a different subset of the data. If a Table item belongs to a subsystem, it is indicated during the update of this item.