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Conference azur::mcc

Title:	DECmcc user notes file. Does not replace IPMT.
Notice:	Use IPMT for problems. Newsletter location in note 6187
Moderator:	TAEC::BEROUD

Created:	Mon Aug 21 1989
Last Modified:	Wed Jun 04 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	6497
Total number of notes:	27359

1369.0. "Determining RECORD" by RIVAGE::SILVA (Carl Silva - Telecom Eng - DTN 828-5339) Wed Aug 21 1991 15:26

	I have defined a RECORD type of:

          TYPE UserInfo = 50 RECORD
                  ULTRIX UserID = 1 : Latin1String;
                  Email Address = 2 : Latin1String;
                  FAX Number = 3 : Latin1String;
                  Phone Number = 4 : Latin1String;
          END RECORD;

	and I have several attributes that are this type.  Is there any way to
tell that these several several attributes all have the same RECORD type (such
as the categories field)?  Is there any way I can set up my MSL so that I can
tell that they are all attributes of type UserInfo?  Also, is it possible to
read this definition (UserInfo RECORD definition) from the dictionary?

	Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

	Carl

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1369.1	Help??	TENERE::SILVA	Carl Silva - Telecom Eng - DTN 828-5339	`Mon Aug 26 1991 07:54`	4
	It seems that it is not possible to find out the common user defined type. Does anyone have any experience with this? Carl
1369.2	I don't think you can get there from here	TOOK::GUERTIN	Don't fight fire with flames	`Mon Aug 26 1991 13:27`	10
	I'm not sure I understand exactly why you need this functionality, I'm not sure that I understand the functionality that you are asking for. It sounds like you want a relational database query feature for a dictionary lookup request (select all Attributes with DataType = UserInfo). Unfortunately, this functionality is not available. The Type code (50) is not stored in the dictionary at this time. I will check if the Type name (UserInfo) is stored or not. -Matt.
1369.3		TOOK::GUERTIN	Don't fight fire with flames	`Mon Aug 26 1991 13:41`	1
	It doesn't appear that the Type name is stored either.
1369.4	It can be done...	POLE::LEMMON		`Mon Aug 26 1991 16:26`	15
	You could hack a bit and define a attribute with DISPLAY=FALSE and put either the codes or names of the attributes that have the same datatype as a default value. It is ugly and probably not recommended, but it does keep the relationship in the data dictionary. ATTRUBUTE User Info Recs = 99 : Latin1String DISPLAY = FALSE, PREDICTABLE = FALSE, DEFAULT = "A1, A3, A5" (* Where A1, A3, and A5 are attribute names *) END ATTRIBUTE User Info Recs; /Jim
1369.5	Thanks for the responses!!!!!!	TENERE::SILVA	Carl Silva - Telecom Eng - DTN 828-5339	`Tue Aug 27 1991 07:07`	30
	RE: .2, > I'm not sure I understand exactly why you need this functionality, I'm > not sure that I understand the functionality that you are asking for. If I wrote a routine that could encode and decode a user defined data type, I would like to be able to use it against all attributes that have the same user defined data type. > It sounds like you want a relational database query feature for a > dictionary lookup request (select all Attributes with DataType = UserInfo). Not really. If the information was stored the way a object was stored, this would be possible with the current dictionary routines (if they could return the new data). > Unfortunately, this functionality is not available. The Type code (50) > is not stored in the dictionary at this time. I will check if the Type > name (UserInfo) is stored or not. > It doesn't appear that the Type name is stored either. OK. 8-( RE: .4, Thanks for the suggestion Jim, this should work. I just wondered if there was some feature that I was missing to get this. Carl
1369.6	no way to find out "type"	TOOK::CALLANDER	Jill Callander DTN 226-5316	`Tue Aug 27 1991 18:12`	7
	there is no way that I know of to find out the "type" from the dictionary. This information is lost in the translation of the MSL input file into the DAP input format. At this time we always decode the records/sets/sequences... piece by piece. jill
1369.7	OK!	TENERE::SILVA	Carl Silva - Telecom Eng - DTN 828-5339	`Wed Aug 28 1991 10:38`	6
	OK, thanks! Does this have the potential for a new feature in the near future? Carl
1369.8	Yes, it should be available in the "near future"	TOOK::GUERTIN	Don't fight fire with flames	`Wed Aug 28 1991 11:15`	11
	We plan to add this with enrollable datatypes. Certainly supporting new "public" datatypes would require this support. Inheritence within the dictionary also would be involved (you ask for dictionary information about a datatype for some child entity, and if the datatype is not defined at that point, it will look for it at the parent level -- this goes for MSL use of datatypes as well). Unfortunately, the only way I can think of supporting this type of functionality would have the side effect of slowing down dictionary access some small percentage, hence it was traded off for other functionality. -Matt.