Rules for Description Files

Use the following rules when creating a description file.

Enter elements in either uppercase or lowercase.

Separate elements from each other with a separator (blank space, tab, or carriage return/line feed), as in the following example:

record=4000 
key=24

Specify the description file elements in the proper order. Table A-1 presents the elements in the appropriate order.

Address all element dependencies. For example, if you specify nullkey=allsegs in your description file, you must also specify a value for the value= element.

Define as many keys as you specify with the Key Count element. For example, if you specify key=12, you must define 12 keys in the description file.

For a key that consists of multiple segments, you must define the following elements for each key segment:

Key Position

Key Length

Duplicate Key Values

Modifiable Key Values

Key Type

The Descending Sort Order element is optional for each segment.

If any key in the file uses an ACS, you must specify an ACS file name, a country ID and code page ID, or an ISR table name. You can include this information as either the last element of the key (applies to current key only) or the last element in the description file (applies to entire data file).

You can specify only one ACS per key, and you must provide an ACS file name, country ID and code page ID, or an ISR table name. Different keys in the same file can use different types of ACSs; for example, Key 0 can use an ACS file name, and Key 1 can use a country ID and code page ID.

Different segments of the same key cannot have different ACSs.

If you specify an ACS at the end of a description file, it is used as the default ACS. That is, if you specify alternate=y for a given key but do not include an ACS file name, country ID and code page ID, or an ISR table name for that key, the database engine uses the ACS file name, country ID and code page ID, or ISR table name specified at the end of the file.

If you are creating a new key and you specify alternate=y but you omit the ACS file name, country ID and code page ID, or ISR table name, the database engine does not create the key.

If a Description File element is optional, you can omit it.

Make sure the description file contains no text formatting characters. Some word processors embed formatting characters in a text file.