Choosing the appropriate editor mode

The two editor modes, "normal mode" and "large mode", have different characteristics as outlined in Characteristics of editor modes. In most cases, you can use either mode to process a Db2® object.

Table 1. Characteristics of editor modes
	"Normal mode"	"Large mode"
Storage usage	Directly dependent on number of rows loaded, processing objects with large numbers of rows requires very large TSO region size, or not possible.	Independent of number of rows in the Db2® object. Storage use increases as rows in the object are changed.
Db2® requirements	Initial data load occurs quickly for small Db2® objects, more slowly as the size of the object increases. Once loaded scrolling within the Db2® object is very fast.	Initial data load occurs quickly for small Db2® objects, significantly more slowly as the size of the object increases. Once loaded, scrolling to nearby locations is fast, scrolling to distant locations may be slow.
Auto commit feature	Available.	Not available. If selected the auto commit option is disabled. The first attempt to auto commit data changes displays a warning message.
Data visibility	Once loaded, the data in the editor session is static and does not change, even if other processes alter the data.	When an insensitive cursor is used, the data displayed in the editor session is static and does not change, even if other processes alter the data. When a sensitive cursor is used, the data displayed in the editor session might change if other processes delete or update rows. Rows inserted by other processes are not visible. Note: For a description of insensitive cursor and sensitive cursor, see Editor Options (2 of 8) panel.
Moving rows^¹	Allowed.	Prohibited.
Sort command	Allowed.	Prohibited.
Row size	No restriction	Row size must not exceed the maximum page size (32704) less 16 bytes. When this limit is exceeded, the editor session reports SQLCODE-670 stating: "The record length of the table exceeds the page size limit". This is because large mode uses a Db2® scrollable cursor, for which each row requires an additional 16 bytes. If you get SQLCODE-670 use "Normal mode" to view and update the Db2® table.

¹ Moving a row means any operation that changes the relative position of a row. These operations are:

Inserting a new row, or group of rows.
Repeating a row, or group of rows.
Moving a row, or group or rows.
Copying a row, or group of rows to a new position.

All of these operations are prohibited in "large" editor mode.

Deleting a row or group of rows is supported in "large" editor mode, since the deleted rows are marked in the editor session with a special marker, and hence the relative position of the rows does not change.