Creating Hold Files for Downloading

In order to download data generated from a report request in CIRS, you must save the data to one of your hold files and specify a format for the file. An example of the syntax is shown below.

EX AC

TABLE FILE AC

PRINT AC:WNAME AC:BRTHDATE AC:SEX AC:SALARY

WHERE AC:CBID EQ 'R03'

ON TABLE HOLD AS PERMLRG FORMAT TABT

END

Three hold files are available for your use: PERMLRG, PERMRPT and PERMSML. Each hold file is available for 60 days, or until new data is written to the file. At a minimum, you can hold the equivalent of your Active Current Status file to each of the hold files.

There are multiple format options available for hold file, but the one used most often is TABT. The TABT format creates a tab delimited file in which columns are separated by tabs and column headings appear in the first row of the hold file. This type of file is easily opened in Microsoft Excel. Another frequently used format is ALPHA which converts the data to an alphanumeric fixed width format. Refer to your FOCUS documentation for a list and description of all available format types.

Here are some additional tips:

If a format is not specified, fields will retain their format (i.e., packed decimal fields will be retained in their packed format and 'smart' date fields will be retained as the number of days lapsed since December 31, 1900).

Do not use the ON TABLE SAVE command. It will produce a file format which cannot be read by some programs.

Do not change field lengths/formats (e.g., PRINT AC:WNAME/A25) for data to be held. This may result in duplicate columns in the hold file.
The AS command can be used to rename fields in the hold file. Caution - Do not rename fields to FOCUS commands (e.g., COUNT, HOLD, etc.).
If included in your report request, most formatting commands (e.g., heading, footing, etc.) will be ignored when the hold file is created.

If you want to know more about hold files, refer to your FOCUS documentation.