DEFINE WORK FILE

n is the work file number (1 to 32). This is the number to be used in a WRITE WORK FILE, READ WORK FILE or CLOSE WORK FILE statement.

operand1 is the name of the work file.

The file name (operand1) may contain environment variables. It is possible to use physical work file names. If a file with the specified name does not exist, it will be created.

If operand1 is not specified, the value of operand1 is determined by taking the work file name stored with the Configuration Utility in the parameter file for the corresponding work file number.

Note:
If operand1 is not specified, the behavior of Natural for Mainframes and Natural for Windows/UNIX/OpenVMS is different.

operand2 specifies the type of work file.

The value of operand2 is handled in a case insensitive way and must be enclosed in quotes or provided in an alphanumeric variable.

Determines the file type from the extension.

Format: Depends on the work file type.

Note:
The file type TRANSFER cannot be determined by the work file type DEFAULT. You must explicitly define TRANSFER as the file type you wish to use.

Is used to transfer data to and from a PC with Entire Connection.

This work file type represents a data connection between a Natural session on UNIX or OpenVMS and an Entire Connection terminal on a PC.

Format: ENTIRE CONNECTION

Notes:

1. This work file type cannot be used in conjunction with the ATTRIBUTES Clause.
2. This work file type is not available under Windows.

Files in ASCII are "text" files with records terminated by [a carriage return] line feed.

Format: ASCII

Is a file in ASCII format, with the exception that all trailing blanks are removed.

Format: ASCII

With this work file type, you can read and write (using the statements READ and WRITE, for example) directly from/to a work file in Entire Connection format on the local disc.

Format: ENTIRE CONNECTION

Note:
This work file type is available on PCs, on UNIX and on OpenVMS. No transfer to PC is possible. The Entire Connection terminal is not used in this process.

A completely unformatted file. No formatting information is written (neither for fields nor for records).

Format: UNFORMATTED

Files which can handle dynamic variables exactly and can also be transported: for example, from a Little Endian machine to a Big Endian machine, and vice versa.

Format: PORTABLE

Comma-separated values. Each record is written to one line in the file. By default, a header is not written. The default character which is used to separate the data fields is a semicolon (;).

For further information, see Work Files in the Configuration Utility documentation.

operand3 specifies a work file attribute.

Several attributes separated by a comma or a blank can be specified, for example:

DEFINE WORK FILE ATTRIBUTES 'APPEND,KEEP'

If multiple values for the same attribute type are specified, the last value is taken, for example:

DEFINE WORK FILE ATTRIBUTES 'APPEND,NOAPPEND'

In this case, NOAPPEND will be taken.

Example for BOM/NOBOM usage:

...
DEFINE WORK FILE 11 'x.tmp' ATTRIBUTES 'BOM'
*
* write work file with BOM
*
DEFINE WORK FILE 11 'x.tmp' ATTRIBUTES 'NOBOM'
*
* write work file without BOM
...

Note:
If operand3 is omitted, the corresponding value defined in the parameter file, as created by the Configuration Utility, is implicitly used.

The following is an overview of the attribute types and their possible values:

Only available for the work file types which write code page data: ASCII, ASCII-COMPRESSED, UNFORMATTED and CSV. For these work file types, the attribute BOM can only be set, if the code page UTF-8 is defined for the work file (see the description of the TYPE clause).

If a work file of another type is written or a code page other than UTF-8 is defined, the specification of the attribute BOM is ignored during runtime.

See also Work Files and Print Files on Windows, UNIX and OpenVMS Platforms in the Unicode and Code Page Support documentation.

This attribute is only relevant for ASCII work files. If a work file of another type than ASCII or ASCII-COMPRESSED is read, the specification of the attribute KEEPCR is ignored during runtime.

Warning: Use KEEPCR with care. ASCII format is only recommended for alphanumeric data. Binary data should not be processed with ASCII work files. When you use KEEPCR, the work file record may include carriage return characters.

The use of KEEPCR only makes sense when reading ASCII work files which have been written on UNIX or OpenVMS. It does not make sense to use KEEPCR with ASCII work files which have been written on Windows.

This attribute is only relevant for ASCII work files. If a work file of another type than ASCII or ASCII-COMPRESSED is read, the specification of the attribute REMOVECR is ignored during runtime.