Display and Edit Data

This section provides information on Display and Editing data in File-AID Data Editor.

Display and Edit Cell Data for Relational Databases

Each cell in the display represents the data for a given row and column. The File-AID Data Editor supports the display of data based upon the code page associated with a particular column in the table.
If you are authorized to edit data in the table, you can click on the cell to edit the data. The position of the cursor when you click on the field determines your entry point, and the character will be highlighted to indicate your current position in the cell. The color of the highlighting indicates your entry mode: Blue is Overwrite and Yellow is Insert. You can toggle the entry mode by pressing the Insert key on the keyboard. The current status is reflected in the status line at the bottom of the data display. The initial default of the Insert/Overwrite entry status upon entry to the data display is Insert, and the default can be controlled with a setting in the File-AID Data Editor Preferences. You may type valid characters or paste (Ctrl+v) the contents of the Windows clipboard to enter new values.

Important

  • When editing data, the Insert/Overwrite mode is critically important. You may not insert new characters unless there is room available. In most cases, it is highly advisable to use Overwrite mode when editing data. If you attempt to insert characters and there is no room available in a cell, an alarm will sound and your entry will be ignored.
  • 3-line hex display mode is only available for mainframe DB2.

For relational database columns that allow a NULL value, right-click on the cell and select Set NULL to set the cell to NULL. Set NULL is only active when allowed by the table definition for a column. Cells that are NULL cannot be modified in 3-line hex display mode. You must first toggle 3-line hex display off to enter values in a NULL cell.
If the data contains invalid characters, a period (.) will be displayed for that character, and you cannot edit that data in character mode. In this case, you must toggle to 3-line hex display mode. 

In certain code pages, some characters or characters in the C0 and C1 control code section of that Unicode page (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C0_and_C1_control_codes) may not be identified as invalid. If the data displayed in the cell appears to be unusual, you may wish to view it in 3-line hex mode. If the data still appears unusual, we encourage you to use 3-line hex mode to modify the data.

If the data is valid character data and is too long to view within the table cell, right-click the cell and select Zoom. This opens the Zoom Text Display dialog box where you can view or edit the data. If you select the Word wrap option, the text will wrap so you can see all of it. The dialog box may also be resized, and scroll bars appear as needed when more data is available beyond the borders of the dialog box. If the data is not valid character data, the Zoom feature is disabled.

Important

  • 3-line hex display mode is not available for the Zoom Text Display dialog.
  • Columns defined as BINARY are always converted to display in hex. When editing, only valid hex characters (0-9, A-F) are accepted for entry. Any other character is considered an entry error.

LOB Data

Some large object LOB column types (CLOB, BLOB) in JDBC data are supported within the File-AID Data Editor. Click in the cell on the graphical icon display to view the content. Right-click the icon to display a context menu of available display options.

Map LOB Column to File Extension

The first time you try to open a LOB cell, you must assign a file extension to be used for processing the cell data for this table column. To assign a file extension, first click on the cell, then right-click on the cell and choose Associate with File Extension. The Map LOB Column to File Extension dialog box appears for you to select an appropriate file extension for this column type. For example, you might select .jpg for binary images or .txt for character large objects. The corresponding program you have associated with the specified file extension is then used to display the cell contents. For example, if you have the .txt file extension associated with Notepad and then assign the file extension .txt to your column, the contents will be displayed within a Notepad window.
The file extension you specify for a column is saved for you. If you want to change it, right-click the cell and choose Associate with File Extension to access the Map LOB Column to File Extension dialog box.

Zoom Text Display

When working with CHAR or VARCHAR columns, or character fields when using layouts with IMS and MVS data, you may invoke the Zoom Text Display to bring up a dialog box displaying the selected value.
Right-click on a cell and select Zoom from the context menu to access the dialog box. Zoom is only available for character columns containing valid data.
If you select the Word wrap option, the text will wrap so you can see all of it in the dialog box display area. The dialog may also be resized and scroll bars activate as needed when more data is available beyond the borders of the dialog box. If the data is not valid character data, the Zoom feature is disabled.
If editing, you may change the data in the Zoom Text Display and click OK to have your changes posted back to the cell.
Click Cancel to exit the Zoom Text Display without posting any changes to the original cell.

Display and Edit MVS and IMS Data

MVS and IMS data can be viewed in formatted or unformatted mode depending on the Request you specified.
When you select a record layout dataset and member, and click Run, you will see your data in formatted mode. If you are authorized to edit the data, you can click on the cell to edit it. The position of the cursor when you click on the field determines your entry point, and the character will be highlighted to indicate your current position in the cell. The color of the highlighting indicates your entry mode: Blue is Overwrite and Yellow is Insert. You can toggle the entry mode by pressing the Insert key on the keyboard. The current status is reflected in the status line at the bottom of the data display. The initial default of the Insert/Overwrite entry status upon entry to the data display is Insert, and the default can be controlled with a setting in the File-AID Data Editor Preferences. 

Important

When editing data, the Insert/Overwrite mode is critically important. You may not insert new characters unless there is room available. In most cases, it is highly advisable to use Overwrite mode when editing data. If you attempt to insert characters and there is no room available in a cell, an alarm will sound and your entry will be ignored.

If the data contains invalid characters, a period (.) will be displayed for that character, and you cannot edit that data in character mode. However, you can toggle to 3-line hex display mode where you can view or change the cell in EBCDIC hex mode.
Each cell in the display represents the data for a given record/segment and layout field. The File-AID Data Editor supports the display of data based upon the code page associated with your logon to the host. When no layouts are provided, or you chose to use the Unformatted Mode by clicking the Unformatted tab at the lower left corner of the data display, you will see your data in Unformatted Mode.

If the data is valid character data and is too long to view within the cell, right-click the cell and select Zoom. This opens the Zoom Text Display dialog box where you can view or edit the data. If you select the Word wrap option, the text will wrap so you can see all of it. If the data is not valid character data, the Zoom feature is disabled.

Record Numbers in Data Editor for MVS data

Record Numbers represent the physical order of records within a sequential MVS data set. These numbers are preserved for records for the duration of the editing session. Record Numbers are not changed when records are being inserted or deleted, and they are preserved when navigating to different pages.

Support for Record Numbers Display requires File-AID/MVS 21.1 or a later version.  For earlier versions of File-AID/MVS on the selected HCI port, Data Editor is not going to display Record Numbers.

Record Numbers are initially displayed in the first column (titled "RECORD #") of Data Editor in the Formatted Table Mode and the Unformatted Table Mode.  This column is initially "frozen", such that horizontal scrolling doesn't affect it, keeping it in the view. You can "unfreeze" the column if required (see section Freeze Columns). 

In the Formatted Table Mode, the Record Number column can also be hidden or moved to a different position (see section "Column Chooser").  To hide, you can right-click the column's header cell and select "Hide Column" from the context menu. To bring it back to display, you can right-click on the header of the "Unformatted Data" column and select "Show All Columns".

The Record Number column supports filtering in the Formatted Table Mode (see section Filtering Rows for details.  It also supports sorting (see Sorting Rows).

Hexadecimal Value Editor

The hexadecimal value editor can be accessed from the Go To Key dialog box and the Starting Segment tab of an IMS request.

To Access the Hex Editor for Character Data

  1. Double-click a field that allows hex editing. This selects the field for editing.
  2. Right-click and select Hex Edit from the context menu. The Hexadecimal Value Editor dialog box appears.
  3. Make changes to the Hex Value field. Your changes will be made automatically when you press Enter. The Character and Offset fields cannot be modified and are updated automatically, if necessary, when you insert or delete characters.
  4. You can insert, delete, reset, or redraw rows. To insert additional characters, click Insert. A new row is added below the current cursor position. Then fill in the value or hex value. To delete a character, select the character and click Delete. To cancel your changes and keep the dialog box open, click Reset, or to cancel your changes and close the dialog box, click the Cancel button. Redraw is most useful for Unicode or double-byte characters. For example, you can use it to redraw the matching character after you change a hex value of a double-byte character.

  5. After making all of your changes, click OK. 

    Important

    If you enter an invalid hex value, an invalid hex icon appears (image2021-8-18_13-59-3.png), and a placeholder value of period (.) is substituted for viewing.

  6. A double-byte character set (DBCS) is a graphic character set in which each character is represented by two bytes. Rules for Double-Byte Characters include:
    1. Double-byte data must appear between 0E and 0F shift codes, which designates that the specified characters are double-byte characters. The 0E and 0F shift codes are not required for GRAPHIC and VARGRAPHIC data types.
    2. You must have an even number of bytes between 0E and 0F.
    3. The first byte of the double-byte character data must be between hex 41 and FE, and the second byte must also be between hex 41 and FE.
    4. X'4040' represents a DBCS blank.

Invalid Data

Data that does not match the format of the layout field is invalid. Invalid data is shown in the display in red and in a special horizontal hexadecimal mode (for example, X'404040').
Listed below are several types of invalid data:

  • For a current list of unsupported PL/I data types, see the Release Notes.
  • If a record is shorter than what a field requires, a blank is shown.
  • Double-byte characters displayed on a single-byte code page are invalid.
  • A graphic field with an odd number of values is invalid.
  • A numeric field that does not contain proper numeric or packed data is invalid.

Concurrent Updates

If you have made changes to a row of data and someone else has saved changes to that same data row before you save your changes, you will get a Concurrent Update Detected dialog box requiring you to specify whether to force or cancel your changes.

To Specify What to Do for Concurrent Updates

  1. When the Concurrent Update Detected dialog box appears, choose one of the following:
    1. Cancel my changes to the indicated row.
    2. Force my update anyway.
    3. Discard all my changes and refresh the displayed rows.
  2. Click OK and your choice will be implemented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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