Using Field Assignment Files

When you copy, export, or modify data using dbcopy, dbexport, or dbmodify , you can create a field assignment file that tells the utility how to change the data stored in a field, or to change the name of a file or field (with dbcopy and dbexport only). To change the name of a file or field, a target dictionary must exist.

The basic syntax (shown below) can be used along with other options on these utilities, such as output file type specifications or filters.

dbcopy -A FieldAssignmentFile [-d TargetDictionary] dataarea FileName [FieldName]

The FieldAssignmentFile file can reside anywhere on the system; you must specify the full path.

The field assignment file contains expressions to determine what changes should be made in the data. These expressions are evaluated by the Landmark Pattern Language (LPL) parser. With knowledge of an application's LPL definition, you can use any defined or implicit relationships, conditions, etc. to modify data.

The examples in this topic use the command syntax; all source fields are form the SampleCompany file in the MySampleHR data area:

dbcopy -d NewDictionary -A C:\MyFieldAssignmentFile.txt MySampleHR SampleCompany