Generating INFO/ACCESS Reports

INFO/ACCESS is a query language processor that is put to many uses in the mvBase system. Its simple, English-like statements produce formatted reports for the terminal or screen. In this section, several examples of INFO/ACCESS reports demonstrate the relationship between the dictionary and the data file. (INFO/ACCESS is explained in full in the INFO/ACCESS User Reference Manual).

LIST is an INFO/ACCESS command that produces listings of items in a report format. The simplest statement consists of LIST followed by the name of a file. Consider a report from the CUSTOMERS file:

>LIST CUSTOMERS
PAGE 1		10:33:54 DD MMM YYYY

CUSTOMERS....	First Name....	Last Name.....	City................	State
HJENK7129	HAROLD	JENKINS	INDIANAPOLIS	IN
JBOHA5422	JOHN	BOHANNON	BOSTON	MA
JBROW6749	JAMES	BROWN	BOSTON	MA
JBUCK6488	JULIE	BUCKLER	LINCOLN	IN
BLEAR6803	BILL	LEARY	BOSTON	MA
JMASO6378	JULIA	MASON	LINCOLN	IN
AORLA5993	AMY	ORLANDO	VENICE	CA
SPIRS5289	SANDRA	PIRS	WINSTON	NC
MASHX5777	MARY	ASH	INDIANAPOLIS	IN
AEDWA5224	ANTHONY	EDWARDS	SUDBURY	MA
JPEER5993	JAN	PEERCE	LOS ALTOS	CA
RPIER5539	RICK	PIERCE	RIDGEWOOD	NJ
AJOHN5396	ANNE	JOHNSON	LOUISVILLE	KY
HJOHN7265	HENRY	JOHNSON	OMAHA	NB
HHIGG6849	HENRY	HIGGINS	OMAHA	NB
DEDGE6635	DAVID	EDGECOMB	MIAMI
AMEAD5619	ANDREW	MEADE	SUDBURY	MA
BLAMP6196	BOB	LAMPSON	BOSTON	MA
				FL
18 ITEMS LISTED.

The report lists information in five columns with a row for each data item in the CUSTOMERS file. The first column lists item-IDs. The remaining columns display the contents of several attributes. Each attribute is described in an Attribute Definition item in the dictionary that tells INFO/ACCESS how to display the data. The item-ID of an Attribute Definition item is used to refer to the data. For instance, the CUSTOMERS dictionary contains Attribute Definition items named FIRST-NAME, LAST-NAME, CITY, and STATE. The names of the attributes can be specified in an INFO/ACCESS statement to override the default display format. The following statement produces a report listing the item-ID followed by the last name and first name of each customer:

>LIST CUSTOMERS LAST-NAME FIRST-NAME