Differences and resemblances between regular and non-regular exchanges
LN provides the possibility to exchange data on a regular or on a non-regular basis. They perform the same operations, and the resulting ASCII files contain the same data, but they are stored in a different way.
During an exchange on a non-regular basis, LN uses sequential file directories that are defined in the Exchange Schemes (daxch0101s000) session in the Path forASCII Files field. During an exchange on a regular basis, additional subdirectories are used for every run of an exchangescheme to avoid overwriting ASCII files of previous records.
An exchange on a non-regular basis is often used to test exchange schemes before they are used on a regular basis in a multisite environment. During an exchange on a non-regular basis, you can select a range of batches or a range of batch sequence numbers that are used to restrict the exchange.
In an exchange based on a regular basis only complete exchange programs are used. It is not possible to select a range of batches. Complete exchange programs are used to make sure that it is impossible to run only part of an exchange program and to lose any data during the exchange.
It is important that during data exchanges on a regular basis the correct ASCII files are used. The exchanged ASCII files are stored in additional subdirectories to separate the import program from the export program.
These subdirectories are defined as:
- <the Exchange module-scheme>.<Run number>.i for an import process
- <the Exchange module-scheme>.<Run number>.e for an export process
These default subdirectories can be overruled by specifying other names in the Exchange Schemes (daxch0101s000) session.
The subdirectory is not created if the physical ASCII files that are stored in the directories for exchanges on a regular and non-regular basis do not contain an absolute path in their path. This means that overwriting is still possible.
The physical ASCII files are defined in the Table Relations (Import) (daxch0521m000) and Table Relations (Export) (daxch0531m000) sessions in the ASCII File field.
Unlike the regular export job support, this session is not able to import several exchange runs in one job execution. Thus the job period must be the same as the export period on the other site.