HP OpenVMS Systems

ask the wizard

Interpreting contents of RMS file records?

» close window

The Question is:

 
For RMS files... is it possible to be able to tell where one field ends and
 another begins and their associated data type without the COBOL File
 definitions.
 
I know the answer to this is probably no... but I figure it is worth a try.

The Answer is :

 
  Only the application knows the format of (the user-provided data portion
  of) an RMS record.  Based on examination of examples of the individual
  records, it can be possible to determine fields within the contents of
  the records given certain types of data (eg: text, floating point,
  integers), but interpreting fields that contain constants or bitflags
  is obviously somewhat more difficult.
 

  
     
     answer written or last revised on ( 26-APR-2001 )
     » close window