You define a file to specify certain facts, and the specifications are then used on database files.
Here are some examples of such specifications:
The object description text is shown by all database tools such as DB2 Universal Database™ (UDB) for iSeries™ SQL, iSeries Access, and data file utility (DFU) on the file selection display.
The column headings are shown by the database tools on the output field definition display. Column headings are also used on screen design aid (SDA) and report layout utility (RLU) as the proposed field-prompting text or heading.
Data management handles date- and time-type fields in the format specified at file-creation time, unless your application or database tool does a conversion to present it according to your request or job demand.
When you want to present all this information according to the language and culture of the user, you need to provide multiple sets of logical files in separate libraries. Along with the translated text, you can specify different date and time formats or different sort sequence and let data management perform the conversion. A similar technique can also be used for numeric-type date fields (unless they are packed), using the substring (SST) function. The user can access the data only through the designated logical views. When you are defining logical files with different sort sequences, avoid using a unique index with a shared-weight table. Although this is possible, a unique index prevents using keys that differ only in characters with the same weight.
The information about Application part names includes a scenario that uses different sets of logical files for different users.