Create a sequential file to be FTPed to Mainframe

Mohammad_Danish · Post by **Mohammad_Danish** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:02 am

Hi,

My objective is to create a sequential file with following columns in Cobol format, please tell what setting to use in Complex Flat File Stageto accomplish this task:
Column Datatype Size
OutDate Integer 99
InDate Integer 999
CompanyNo Alphanumeric XX
OutletNo Numeric 9(5)
TransUnits Packed decimal S(9) Comp-3
TransUnits2 Packed decimal S(9) Comp-3
Sales Packed decimal S(9) V99 Comp-3
TrfUnits Packed decimal S(9) Comp-3
Space Alphanumeric XX

Please let me know what settings should be made in 'Record' tab of CFF stage to accomplish it.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 4:52 am

First tell us what YOU have tried.

We're not in the business of handing out solutions on a silver platter.

We're happy to help with problems.

(Actually some of us ARE in the business of handing out solutions, but that's only in exchange for professional fees.)

Mohammad_Danish · Post by **Mohammad_Danish** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:33 am

Hi Ray,

I have implemented using CFF stage by configuring it as follows:

Column Datatype Length Scale
OutDate Native Binary 99
InDate Native Binary 999
CompanyNo Varchar 2
OutletNo Native Binary 9 5
TransUnits Decimal 9
TransUnits2 Decimal 9
Sales Decimal 11 2
TrfUnits Decimal 9
Space Varchar 2

This is the configuration I have done, when I am checking the Layout Tab(COBOL) in the CFF I am not getting the Picture Clause as expected, as I have posted in post before, what additional settings I need to do to accomplish that.

jwiles · Post by **jwiles** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:38 am

What Picture clause are you expecting to see and what are you actually seeing? Were you provided a layout to create, or given the freedom to provide one to the consumer?

Regards,

FranklinE · Post by **FranklinE** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:56 am

Danish, the disciplined way to approach this is for the mainframe system programmer to provide you with a Cobol copybook, the actual detailed schema of the file you are being asked to create.

DataStage has a very good Cobol data interface. Use the Table Definitions menu to load the copybook, and follow the prompts. If you are not familiar with Cobol, have a Cobol programmer help you with the prompts.

I've had excellent results with this.

Addendum:
Record level>>Record type=implicit
Field defaults>>Delimter=none
Type defaults>>General>>Character set=EBCDIC, Data format=binary
Type defaults>>Decimal>>allow all zeroes=yes

These should be your settings when reading from or writing to mainframe datasets under the Cobol formats. If your FTP is a separate step, then I suggest making sure any EBCDIC file be formatted as shown and read to FTP with those attributes. Having an accurate schema based on the Cobol copybook is critical, regardless of how else you approach this.