Printing your database in batch

The Print dialog (option 5 on the Utility menu) generates a batch job that prints data from your IMS database in one of these formats:
  • Character format
  • Hexadecimal format.

    The printed IMS segment has three lines. The first is the character representation, the second and third the hexadecimal representation of the IMS segment.

  • Single format.

    The printed IMS segment will have a line for each field specified in the view for the IMS segment.

  • Table format

    The printed IMS segment will have the fields specified in the view presented horizontally.

You can print the entire database or some subset of your database. When you only want a subset of the database printed, you can use any combination of the following to control which segment occurrences are printed:

  • A file containing the root segment key values of the database records you want printed. This file is called a keys file.
  • A KEYLIST parameter specifying the root segment key values of the database records you want printed.

    You can specify full and partial key values in this list. When you specify a partial key, the database records with root key values that match the partial key are printed.

  • A KEYRANGE parameter specifying a range of root segment key values for which you want the database records printed.
  • A view specifying criteria that a segment occurrence must satisfy for it to be printed.

    The view can also be used to specify which fields of a segment are to be printed.

Ordinarily, you would use either a keys file, or the KEYLIST parameter or the KEYRANGE parameter to specify which database records you want the function to print and you would use the view to control which specific segment occurrences are to be printed.