Global Syntax › DISPLAY and SORT Field-Reference Clause

DISPLAY and SORT Field-Reference Clause

This field-reference clause is used in the DISPLAY, and SORT commands and allows you to identify a field in several different ways. With the field-reference clause, you are not restricted to specifying a field name when manipulating or displaying report files. You can identify fields in any of the following ways:

• Relative column position of the field in the report file (1 for the first column)
• Computed column header (AVG-SALARY for the computed average salary)
• CA OLQ header for the field (MANAGER-NAME)
• Field name for a particular record, or a field name, which can be further qualified either by a record name and record occurrence or by subscripts.

Example:

DEPT.PHONE for the phone field in the Department record, PHONE(2) for the second occurrence of the field that contains the phone number.

Note: The DISPLAY command can also reference the initial portion of a report-file field whose usage is DISPLAY.

The HELP/SHOW REPORT command displays the field names, column numbers, and CA OLQ headers available for use in the field-reference clause.

Syntax:

►►─┬─┬─ column-position ────────────────────────────┬─┬───────────────────┬─┬─►◄
   │ ├─ compute-column-title ───────────────────────┤ └ (character-count) ┘ │
   │ └┬─────────┬─┬ field-name ────────────────────┬┘                       │
   │  └ record. ┘ ├ olq-header ────────────────────┤                        │
   │              │               ┌──── , ────┐    │                        │
   │              └ 'field-name ( ▼ subscript ┴ )' ┘                        │
   │                              ┌───── , ─────┐                           │
   └─┬───────────┬─ field-name ( -▼- subscript ─┴─ ) ───────────────────────┘
     └─ record. ─┘

Expansion of record

►►─┬────────────┬─ record-name ─┬────────────────┬────────────────────────────►◄
   └─ view-id. ─┘               └─ (occurrence) ─┘

Syntax rules:

column-position

Specifies the field in the nth column of the report file. Column numbers appear under the header COL in the HELP REPORT display.

compute-column-title

Specifies the name of a field created by a COMPUTE command. If the computed field name includes blanks or delimiters, it must be enclosed in quotation marks. Computed fields are listed as *COMPUTED* in the HELP REPORT display.

record

• view-id—Qualifies the record name by specifying the alternate name ofthe subschema or table from which the record is retrieved.
• record-name (occurrence)—Specifies the record in which the selected field participates. If the record appears more than once in the path, you can specify the occurrence number of the record. If you use occurrence, separate it from the field specification with a period. Record names appear under the header RECORD in the HELP REPORT display.
  • field-name—The name of the field in the report file. Db-key field names can be specified in the SORT command, but not in the WHERE clause or the COMPUTE statement. Field names appear under the header FIELD in the HELP REPORT display.
  • olq-header—The alternative record header defined for the field in the data dictionary or by the user. This name appears under the header OLQ HEADER in the HELP REPORT display. When the header comprises more than one line, only the first header line is displayed in the HELP REPORT file.

    User-defined headers are specified by using the EDIT command; these headers apply only to the session in which they are specified.

  • field-name (subscript) —The fields that require subscripts in a one-, two-, or three-dimensional array. Enclose the subscript parameter in quotation marks if followed by character-count (see below). The FIELD column in the HELP REPORT display identifies the fields that require subscripts.
  • character-count—The number of left-most characters of the field sorted on or displayed. This parameter allows truncation of a field whose usage is DISPLAY so that an increased number of fields can be displayed at one time. Enclose character-count in parentheses. This parameter is not valid for the ON BREAK command.

For more information:

Coding Considerations