The item-ID (item identifier) is used to access an item. It must be unique to the file with no duplicate item-IDs. Retrieval time can be minimized by using the item-ID to locate specific items.
Item-IDs are created when the item is created. It may be created automatically by the system, automatically generated by specifications in the file’s dictionary, or it may be specified at data entry.
The item-ID is a unique string of characters that identifies this item from all the others in this file. The item-ID can be as short as a single character (byte) or as long as 101 characters, but only the first 24 characters are used for uniqueness. Within the item, the item-ID is referred to as attribute zero. The item-ID is terminated with one or two attribute marks, so that the following item begins on an even byte address.
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