Compare Utility: Options panel
The Compare Utility - Options panel (Figure 1) is used to specify the way in which the comparison is processed and the type of listing produced.
Panel and field definitions
Process Options Help ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── File Manager Compare Utility : Options Compare Options: Compare type Synchronization Listing type Long Report 2 1. Record 4 1. One-to-one 2 1. Summary Enter "/" to exclude 2. Formatted 2. Read-ahead 2. Delta Inserted 3. Keyed 3. Matching Deleted MQ Processing 4. Read-ahead Keyed 4. Long Changed Include descriptors 5. None Matched Processing Options: Listing Options: Enter "/" to select option Enter "/" to select option Edit template mapping / Wide listing / Clear print data set Show hex chars Create result data sets / Highlight changes / Ignore record length mismatch Show field attributes Left justify numeric fields Show changed fields only Sort before compare Always show SELECTed fields Suppress fields Inserted/Deleted ISPF Packing 2 1. Unpack if packed 2. None Number of differences to report ALL 3. Skip Template Reporting Options: Enter "/" to select option Show template layouts Show template criteria Show mapped fields / Show unmapped fields Show array elements Show start/end as hex offset Show length in hex / Show field statistics Command ===> F1=Help F2=Split F3=Exit F4=CRetriev F7=Backward F8=Forward F9=Swap F10=Actions F12=Cancel
- Compare Options
-
- Compare Type
- Choose
either Record comparison or Formatted comparison.
- 1. Record
- When the record comparison option is selected,
pairs of records (determined by the record selection criteria and
synchronization method) are compared byte by byte. For the records
to match, the corresponding bytes in each record must
be the same and either the record lengths are equal or the pad option
has been specified and the trailing bytes equal the pad character.
To use record identification and selection criteria to filter the records to be compared, specify a copybook or template for either the “Old” or the “New” data set or both.
Note: To perform a "record" comparison restricted to certain columns in the records, use dynamic templates to define the areas in the records to be compared using data type AN. - 2. Formatted
- When the formatted comparison option is selected,
mapped pairs of fields (from each pair of records selected by the record
selection criteria and synchronization method) are compared, according to
the format defined for each field. For the records to match, every pair of
mapped fields must match.
To specify field mapping, you must specify a copybook or template for both the “Old” and the “New” data sets. Optionally, you can also use the copybooks or templates to specify record identification and selection criteria to filter the records to be compared.
When this option is selected, pressing Enter displays the Formatted Comparison Options panel, in which you can specify additional comparison options. The display of this panel is "delayed" if read-ahead or keyed synchronization is requested, because the sub-option panels for synchronization are displayed first.
Figure 2. Formatted Comparison Options panel Process Options Help ─ ┌─────────────── Formatted Comparison Options ────────────────┐ ──────────── F │ │ │ Specify additional options for formatted comparison. │ C │ │ │ Ignore leading blanks in character fields . . . _ │ │ Ignore trailing blanks in character fields . . _ │ │ Match reformatted character fields . . . . . . _ │ │ Ignore case in character fields . . . . . . . . _ │ │ │ │ Press ENTER to perform formatted comparison. │ │ Press EXIT or CANCEL to return to the options panel. │ P │ Command ===> _____________________________________________ │ │ F1=Help F2=Split F3=Exit F7=Backward │ ion │ F8=Forward F9=Swap F12=Cancel │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Batch execution Highlight changes Show field attributes Command ===> F1=Help F2=Split F3=Exit F4=CRetriev F7=Backward F8=Forward F9=Swap F10=Actions F12=CancelPanel fields:
- Ignore leading blanks in character fields
- Select this option if you want leading blanks to be ignored when character comparisons are performed. This option is ignored if you also select the Match reformatted character fields option, because that option also causes leading blanks to be ignored.
- Ignore trailing blanks in character fields
- Select this option if you want trailing blanks to be ignored when character comparisons are performed. This option is ignored if you also select the Match reformatted character fields option because that option also causes trailing blanks to be ignored.
- Match reformatted character fields
- Select this option if you want character fields to use a reformatted comparison method. Using this option, character fields match as if leading and trailing blanks were stripped, and all sequences of intermediate blanks were compressed to a single blank. The ignore leading and trailing blanks options are ignored if you select this option.
- Ignore case in character fields
- Select this option if you want character fields to match regardless of the case of the data being compared. Using this option character fields match as if all the alphabetic characters were converted to upper case.
- Synchronization
-
- 1. One-to-one
- The compare sets are assumed to contain records in a corresponding sequence.
- 2. Read-ahead
- The
compare sets are assumed to contain records in roughly corresponding
sequences.
When this option is selected, pressing Enter displays an additional panel in which you can specify the Read-ahead synchronization limit and the Read-ahead synchronization length.
Figure 3. Read-ahead Synchronization Limit panel Process Options Help ─ ┌─────────────── Read-ahead Synchronization Options ──────────┐ F │ │ │Specify additional options for read-ahead synchronization. │ C │ │ │ Read-ahead synchronization limit . . . . . . . 100 │ │ Read-ahead synchronization length . . . . . . . 1 │ │ │ │ Press ENTER to perform read-ahead comparison. │ │ Press EXIT or CANCEL to return to the options panel. │ │ Command ===> │ │ F1=Help F2=Split F3=Exit F7=Backward │ P │ F8=Forward F9=Swap F12=Cancel │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Edit template mapping Wide listing Clear print data set Show hex chars / Create result data sets / Highlight changes Show field attributes ISPF Packing Show changed fields only 1 1. Unpack if packed Always show SELECTed fields 2. None Command ===> F1=Help F2=Split F3=Exit F4=CRetriev F7=Backward F8=Forward F9=Swap F10=Actions F12=CancelPanel fields:
- Read-ahead synchronization limit
- Range: 1–999. Specifies the number of records to read ahead in each compare set.
- Read-ahead synchronization length
- Range: 1–99. Specifies the number of records that must match
during read-ahead processing for synchronization to occur.
When non-matching records are found by the compare utility and read-ahead synchronization was specified, File Manager attempts to resynchronize the data by looking ahead in each of the data sets. The read-ahead length is the minimum number of matching records that must be found to recognize a resynchronization point. If insufficient matching records are found, read-ahead processing continues.
- 3. Keyed
- The
compare sets are assumed to be sequenced by a key, which consists of one or
more segments of the record (up to sixteen).
When this option is selected, pressing Enter displays the Keyed Synchronization Settings panel, in which you must specify at least one key segment (and up to sixteen key segments). Any existing key segment information, such as that drawn from an intrinsically keyed data set or from key sequences specified in the “Old” or “New” templates, or both, is displayed in the panel. You can edit or modify these details.
Figure 4. Keyed Synchronization Settings panel - no key segment information Process Options Help ┌────────────── Keyed Synchronization Settings ───────────────┐ ─ │ Command ===> Line 1 of 16 │ ────── F │ │ C │ Press ENTER to perform keyed comparison. │ │ Press EXIT or CANCEL to return to the options panel. │ e: + C │ │ │ Enter "/" to select option │ │ Match records when all key fields match │ exclude │ │ │ Key position Key length Key type Order │ │ Key segment Old New Old New Old New A/D │ │ 1 1 1 8 8 AN AN │ │ 2 │ P │ 3 │ │ 4 │ │ 5 │ │ 6 │ │ 7 │ │ 8 │ │ 9 │ │ 10 │ lds │ 11 │ /Deleted │ 12 │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ t ALL- Panel fields:
-
- Match records when all key fields match
- Enter / to match records when all the key fields match.
- Key position - Old
- Range: 1-32760. Specifies the position of a key segment in the “Old” compare set records for keyed synchronization.
- Key position - New
- Range: 1-32760. Specifies the position of a key segment in the “New” compare set records for keyed synchronization.
- Key length - Old
- Range: 1-32760. Specifies the length of a key segment in the “Old” compare set records for keyed synchronization.
- Key length - New
- Range: 1-32760. Specifies the length of a key segment in the “New” compare set records for keyed synchronization. Defaults to the old key length. If it is specified and the length is different from the old length, the shorter key is padded with hex zeros in alphanumeric fields; or the shorter key is padded with the pad character (normally a blank) in alphanumeric fields if the system pad option is on, before comparisons are performed.
- Key type - Old
- Specifies the type of a key segment in the “Old”
compare set records for keyed synchronization. The data type of the
key segment must be one of the following data types:
- AN
- Alphanumeric
- CH
- Character (same as alphanumeric)
- BI
- Binary
- PD
- Packed decimal
- FP
- Internal floating point
- ZD
- Zoned decimal
Default: AN.
- Key type - New
- Specifies the type of a key segment in the “New”
compare set records for keyed synchronization. For the types that are
supported, see Key type - Old.
If you do not provide the type, the default is the old type. Note: If either old or new is a numeric key type, a numeric comparison is performed and a key field is considered in error if it cannot be converted for numeric comparison.
- Order (A/D)
- Default: A. Specify A for ascending. Specify D for descending.
- 4. Read-ahead Keyed
- This option is similar to Read-ahead except the fact that instead of record matching, key field matching is performed when synchronizing records. As a result, it can detect changes to records that match according to key field data but differ according to record comparison. Therefore, both the Figure 3 and the Figure 4 will be displayed when this option is selected. The order field that is described in Figure 4 will be protected because it is ignored for Read-ahead Keyed.
- Listing type
-
- 1. Summary
- Generates a summary listing only.
- 2. Delta
- Generates a delta listing containing all deleted and inserted records, and a summary.
- 3. Matching
- Generates a listing containing only matching records, and a summary. Matching records are only listed once.
- 4. Long
- Generates a listing containing all matching and non-matching records. Matching records are only listed once.
- 5. None
- Suppresses the listing. A message is issued instead to indicate whether or not the data sets matched.
- Long Report
- Selecting one or more of these options
causes those compare result types to be excluded from the report.
These options are used in conjunction with the Long listing
type to tailor the output report. If a listing type other than Long has
been selected, these options are ignored.
- Inserted
- When selected, excludes inserted records from the report.
- Deleted
- When selected, excludes deleted records from the report.
- Changed
- When selected, excludes changed records from the report.
- Matched
- When selected, excludes matched records from the report.
- Processing Options
-
- Edit template mapping
- Specify / to edit the template mapping before use. This option is only available if a copybook or template was specified for both the “Old” and “New” data sets, and is only valid if a formatted comparison is requested. See Creating and editing templates for detailed information about creating and editing templates and Comparing data sets for details on using templates during the compare process.
- Clear print data set
- Specify / to clear the File Manager print data set before use. This option has no effect if File Manager print output is not directed to a data set. See Setting your Print Processing Options for more information about controlling the print data set.
- Create result data sets
- Specify / to create one or more output data sets. These data sets are specified on the Compare Utility: Output Data Sets panel.
- Ignore record length mismatch
- Enter "/" to ignore length mismatches with the template. If you do not select this option, records that are shorter or longer than the matching structure length in the template are not selected for processing.
- Left justify numeric fields
- If you specify "/" for this option and you have selected a Compare Type of Formatted, numeric fields are shown as left-justified.
- Sort before compare
- Enter “/” to have File Manager sort both the old and new data sets
before compare processing starts. This option is only valid if the Record Synchronization option is
set to either Keyed or Read-ahead Keyed. The data sets are sorted based on the keys defined in the
Keyed Synchronization Settings panel.A sort request is ignored if the old or new data set has any of the following characteristics:
- RECFM=U
- VSAM linear file
- VSAM file with maximum record length greater than 32K
- QSAM spanned file with a record length greater than 32K
- The template indicates that the file has segmented records
- PDS or PDSE file
A sort request is also ignored when any of the following conditions is true:- I/O exits are used to process the data sets
- The comparison involves MQ queues
- The comparison involves remote files
- The comparison involves HFS files
- Listing Options
-
- Wide listing
- Specify / to generate a wide listing. Wide listings are not suitable for
printing if the width of the record or the width of the formatted data exceeds
the maximum record length supported by the printer, but they can make it
easier to analyze as the corresponding data in the “New” and
“Old” records are vertically aligned.
Wide listings can accommodate records not exceeding 32K bytes in length. Longer records are truncated, but still marked correctly when changed.
- Show hex chars
- Specify / to generate a hexadecimal display of the records or
formatted fields in addition to the standard character display. Note: The Compare Utility and DCM function always use the UPDOWN format for hexadecimal display, regardless of the setting of the DUMP option in your Set Print Processing Options (option 0.1).
- Highlight changes
- Specify / to highlight any differences between “Old”
and “New” records. For record comparisons and wide formatted
comparisons, the differences are indicated by placing a "change bar"
(|) beneath the altered bytes. For narrow formatted comparisons the
fields that have changed are indicated by placing an asterisk (*)
to the left of the field name. Note: For altered numeric fields in a wide formatted comparison the change bars always indicate the entire field because the display characters do not necessarily correspond to individual bytes in the data.
- Show field attributes
- Specify / to show field attributes in formatted comparison reports. For a wide listing, leaving this option unchecked reduces the overall width of the report. For a narrow listing, leaving this option unchecked provides more space in the formatted field area for the field name and data. This option has no effect for record type comparisons.
- Show changed fields only
- Specify / to report only changed fields if a narrow formatted report. This option has no effect for record type comparisons.
- Always show SELECTed fields
- Specify / to show SELECTed fields in formatted comparison reports. The option is intended to allow you to ensure that certain fields that you have SELECTed are always printed, regardless of whether they are changed or not. This option has effect only if the Show changed fields only option has been selected and only if the SELECTed fields have been mapped.
- Suppress Inserted/Deleted fields
- Specify / to suppress the field reporting on the inserted and deleted fields when the Show changed fields only is selected.
- ISPF Packing
- Provided that the data set is a sequential, PDS or PDSE file and
an I/O exit routine is not used, one of these options can be used
to control the comparison behavior when processing data that is in
ISPF PACK format.
- 1. Unpack
- If the data set is packed, it is unpacked before any processing or comparison is performed.
- 2. None
- No checking or processing of ISPF packed data occurs. Packed records are processed and compared in packed format. This option is forced if an I/O exit has been used.
- 3. Skip
- If the input data is packed, no processing or comparison occurs.
- Template Reporting Options
- These options control the template details reported by the Compare
utility. If any of the template reporting options are specified, and
template information participated in the comparison, a report of the
relevant requested information appears after the comparison summary.
If none of the template reporting options are specified, or no options
relevant to the comparison are specified, no template information
is reported.
- Show template layouts
- Specify / to show template field details in comparison reports.
For each template used in the comparison, the template fields are
listed with their attributes.
This option has no effect for record type comparisons, because template field information is not used in record type comparisons.
- Show template criteria
- Specify / to show template identification and selection criteria in comparison reports. For each template used in the comparison, the identification and selection criteria, if any, are listed.
- Show mapped fields
- Specify / to show how fields in the new data set template are
mapped to fields in the old data set template.
This option has no effect for record type comparisons, because template mapping information is not used in record type comparisons.
- Show unmapped fields
- Specify / to show fields in the old and new data set templates
that are not mapped to fields in the other template.
This option has no effect for record type comparisons, because template mapping information is not used in record type comparisons.
- Show array elements
- Specify / to show all occurrences of array elements in layouts.
Array elements are not shown in mappings because mapping at the array
element level is not supported.
For COBOL OCCURS DEPENDING ON tables, the maximum occurrences are shown.
For PL/1 REFER arrays, the minimum occurrences are shown.
- Show start/end as hex offset
- Specify / to show the start and end values as hexadecimal offsets in layouts and mappings.
- Show length in hex
- Specify / to show the length values as hexadecimal in layouts and mappings.
- Show field statistics
- Specify / to produce a field statistics report showing the number and percentage of mismatches by field.
- Number of differences to report
- The number of differences after which the Compare Utility stops processing the data sets.
Parent panels
- Compare Utility: “New” panel