Papyrus DocEXEC Data Interface
Q: Can
the product enhance and format an existing print
file?
A: Yes. DocEXEC
was made specifically for that purpose. Therefore
it can work very well with any ASCII or EBCDIC
input file and even use the existing channel controls
to the maximum. Variables and fields are extracted
from the file as defined. Unwanted data can simply
be ignored.
Q: Does
the product provide query and report generation
capabilities?
A: No. In
most cases data files exist or are created with
existing database tools. These standard report
files can be excellently formatted. ISIS provides
DB query capabilities for dB/2, Oracle, MS SQL
Server, and Sybase, others will follow.
Q: Does
the product provide sorting functions on the data
INTERNALLY?
A: Yes. High
speed sorting is a very specialized task. It makes
only sense to use existing sort products to generate
a data file for formatting. Small scale sorting
can be done directly with Papyrus DocEXEC. Papyrus
DocEXEC offers now the capability to preprocess
the data files to make them usable as input to
a high-speed sort and then as input to DocEXEC
formatting.
Q: Can
the product merge two data files?
A: Yes. The
files are processed to have identical sort index
entries on each data records and then are appended
and sorted. The definition of the sort criteria
and preprocessing is done within the Papyrus Designer
without coding.
Q: Can
the product use existing cobol copybooks or MACLIB
descriptions?
A: No. As
the product is a true multi-platform product,
such a feature is of low value. It is planned
to provide such a capability for the MVS version
in the near future. In its current version it
can directly use the PIC descriptions of COBOL.
Q: Can
the product use existing PAGEDEF field descriptions?
A: Yes. The
PAGEFORMAT part can be directly used or converted
to a DOCFORMAT using the same FIELD descriptions.
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