Creating and editing views

A view begins as a copy of a template. You can then add information to:

Select the segments you want displayed
Select the fields you want displayed
Select the order in which you want the fields displayed.
Change the display width of a field
Display leading zeros on numeric fields
Specify a field heading to use instead of the field name in the copybook

Tip: You create one template per database (DBD); the template and DBD have matching member names. You only need to update a template if segment types are added, segment types are renamed, or segment layouts change in the underlying database structure.

You can create as many views as you like for the same database, with each view providing a different way of looking at the data, selecting different segments and fields. You can prepare your views before you browse or edit your data, or you can create and edit a view while you are browsing or editing a database.

Figure 1. Overview of templates and views


┌──────────────┐ List of
│ DBD          │ segment types
│ load library │ ─────────────┐
│ member       │              │   ┌──────────┐     ┌───────┐
└──────────────┘              └─► │          │     │       │┐                                  
                                  │ Template │ ──► │ Views ││
┌───────────────┐             ┌─► │          │ ─┐  │       ││
│ COBOL or PL/I │┐ Segment    │   └──────────┘  │  └───────┘│
│ copybooks     ││ layouts    │   (PDS member,  │   └───────┘
│               ││ ───────────┘   same name     │   (Either discarded after
└───────────────┘│                as database)  │   use, or saved to a
 └───────────────┘                              │   sequential data set
                                                │   or PDS member)
                                                ↓
                                          ┌──────────┐
                                          │ Extract  │┐
                                          │ criteria ││ For details, see
                                          │ sets     ││ Criteria (option 4.3)
                                          └──────────┘│
                                           └──────────┘