ADMIN

Sunbelt administrative file definition.

AFILE

Associative access method file definition.

BFILE

Btrieve access method file definition.

COMFILE

Communications file definition.

FILE

Sequential and random access method file definition.

FILELIST

A list of IFILES and AFILES for Simplified File IO processing.

IFILE

Index Sequential Access Method (ISAM) file definition.

PFILE

Print file definition.

SNDFILE

Sound file definition.

XFILE

XML file definition.

Type

Description

Sequential

Each record within the file immediately follows the preceding record's EOR character(s).

Random

Records are generally allocated with each occupying a single sector. This allows access of each record by a record number. Files of this type may be accessed sequentially.

Indexed

Files of this type may be accessed in one of the above two ways, directly by a specific key or in the key sequence.

Associative

Records in an associative access (AAM) file are accessed in a manner based on specific key information. These records are not retrieved in any specific sequence. However, all records that meet the given keys may be retrieved.

Btrieve

Similar to indexed format, however Btrieve is a proprietary file format. Originally developed for Novell networks, now various systems support Btrieve files. In Btrieve format, both the data and its indexes are maintained within the same file. Btrieve file format is not supported in the PLBCMP compiler.

CISAM

Similar to indexed format, CISAM is a proprietary file format. Originally developed by Informix, there are object modules available for many different systems. The PL/B support is limited to the PLBCMP compiler. The runtime has an interface routine that must be linked with an existing CISAM runtime. Sunbelt does not provide the actual CISAM modules.

Print Files

Spooled output files and/or devices. An unlimited number of different spool files may be open at the same time.