Create source files without DDS

If many of the parameters of the Create Source Physical File (CRTSRCPF) command default to values that you usually want for a source file, you can create the source file without data description specifications (DDS).

When you create a source physical file without using DDS, but by specifying the record length (RCDLEN parameter), the source created contains three fields: SRCSEQ, SRCDAT, and SRCDTA (The record length must include 12 characters for sequence number and date-of-last-change fields so that the length of the data portion of the record equals the record length minus 12.) The data portion of the record can be defined to contain more than one field (each of which must be character or zoned decimal). If you want to define the data portion of the record as containing more than one field, you must define the fields using DDS.

A record format consisting of the following three fields is automatically used for a source physical file created using the CRTSRCPF command:

Field Name Data type and length Description
1 SRCSEQ Zoned decimal, 6 digits, 2 decimal positions Sequence number for record
2 SRCDAT Zoned decimal, 6 digits, no decimal positions Date of last update of record
3 SRCDTA Character, any length Data portion of the record (text)
Note: For all IBM-supplied database source files, the length of the data portion is 80 bytes. For IBM-supplied device source files, the length of the data portion is the maximum record length for the associated device.
Parent topic: Create a source file using the Create Source Physical File (CRTSRCPF) command