SAS/ACCESS Interface to IMS-DL/I Software

Procedure Statements

To invoke the ACCESS procedure you use the options described in Options and certain procedure statements. The options and statements you choose are defined by your task.

To create an access descriptor:

PROC ACCESS DBMS=IMS;

CREATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;

required database-description statements;

optional editing statements;

RUN;

To create an access descriptor and a view descriptor:

PROC ACCESS DBMS=IMS;

CREATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;

required database-description statements;

optional editing statements;

CREATE libref.member-name.VIEW;

SELECT item-list;

optional editing statements;

RUN;

To create a view descriptor from an existing access descriptor:

PROC ACCESS DBMS=IMS ACCDESC=libref.access-descriptor;

CREATE libref.member-name.VIEW;

SELECT item-list;

optional editing statements;

RUN;
To update an access descriptor:

PROC ACCESS DBMS=IMS;

UPDATE libref.member-name.ACCESS;

procedure statements;

RUN;
To update a view descriptor:

PROC ACCESS DBMS=IMS;

UPDATE libref.member-name.VIEW;

procedure statements;

RUN;

Database-Description Statements

The following statements define the IMS-DL/I database in an access descriptor.

DATABASE=database-name DBTYPE=database-type;

RECORD=record-name SEGMENT=segment-name
SEGLNG=segment-length;

GROUP=group-name LEVEL=level-number
KEY=Y|N|U OCCURS=number-of-repeats
SEARCH=search-name;

ITEM=item-name LEVEL=level-number

DBFORMAT=database-format

FORMAT=SAS-format SEARCH=search-name

KEY=Y|N|U OCCURS=number-of-repeats

DBCONTENT=database-content;

DELETE item-name|index-number;

INSERT item-name|index-number;

REPLACE item-name|index-number;

The DATABASE=, RECORD=, and ITEM= statements are required to create an access descriptor with the CREATE statement; the GROUP= statement is optional. The INSERT, DELETE, and REPLACE statements are used with the UPDATE statement to change an existing access descriptor. At least one of the GROUP=, RECORD=, or ITEM= statements must be used with the INSERT, DELETE, and REPLACE statements to change an access descriptor. The DATABASE= statement cannot be used in an UPDATE statement.

Whether you are creating or changing an access descriptor, the RECORD=, ITEM=, and GROUP= statements must be used in the same order as they appear in the database.

Because IMS-DL/I does not have a dictionary or store descriptive information about the database, you need to provide the DBD information. To provide this information, you need to have a COBOL copybook or layout of the database.

For logical databases, the access descriptor definitions are mapped to the logical DBD and not to one or more physical DBDs. This enables the IMS-DL/I engine to build correct calls and for the SSAs (segmented search arguments) to navigate the logical structure of the database.

Note: See Tools for Creating Access Descriptors for tools that SAS Institute supplies to automate the database definition process. [cautionend]

Editing Statements

SAS/ACCESS editing statements enable you to drop or rename items, list items, reset names, and so on in a descriptor. All of the statements can be used when you are creating a descriptor. The ASSIGN=, SELECT, RESET, and UNIQUE= statements cannot be used when you are changing a descriptor.

When creating or changing an access descriptor, place editing statements after the last database definition statement. All editing statements are optional.

The following list shows the basic syntax of each editing statement:

These statements are described in detail in the following sections.

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