Specify the check for record format description changes (LVLCHK) parameter

When the file is opened, the system checks for changes to the database file definition. You can specify the check for record format description changes with the LVLCHK parameter.

When the file changes to an extent that your program might not be able to process the file, the system notifies your program. The default is to do level checking. You can specify if you want level checking when you:

Create a file.
Use a change database file command.

You can override the system and ignore the level check using the Override with Database File (OVRDBF) command.

Example: Level check

For example, assume that you compiled your program two months ago and, at that time, the file was defined as having three fields in each record. Last week another programmer decided to add a new field to the record format, so that now each record have four fields. The system notifies your program, when it tries to open the file, that a significant change occurred to the definition of the file since the last time the program was compiled. This notification is known as a record format level check.