Introduction to Access Paths › Understanding Access Paths

Understanding Access Paths

A CA 2E access path can be implemented as one or more i OS objects. Access paths can be created over files that have been defined, but before the functions associated with the access path are created. The application uses access paths to retrieve, sequence, or update data from the physical file. CA 2E creates default access paths for you when you define a file in your model. However, you can create additional access paths for your file.

An access path defines the physical file and/or the logical views of that file. When you build one, you specify the following:

• The order in which you want to retrieve records from a file
• Which fields will be present
• Your select/omit criteria for deciding which records from the file will be retrieved by the access path