Creating the DDS file
You can create a data description specifications (DDS) file by running a CL command that corresponds to the type of DDS file.
The file types and their corresponding commands are listed in the following table.
| File type | Command |
|---|---|
| Physical file | Create Physical File (CRTPF) |
| Logical file | Create Logical File (CRTLF) |
| Display file | Create Display File (CRTDSPF) |
| Printer file | Create Printer File (CRTPRTF) |
| Intersystem communications function (ICF) file | Create ICF File (CRTICFF) |
When you issue a CL command to create a file, the DDS is retrieved from the source file and validated, and a file is created as shown in the following figure. The file is created only if there are no errors in the DDS of equal or greater severity than the severity specified on the GENLVL parameter of the CL command that creates the file. Thus, you can use the GENLVL parameter to control the allowable error severity when creating the file. Depending on the options you specify on the OPTION and FLAG parameters, a DDS source (or compiler) listing can also be created. The DDS listing contains the data description and error information.
You can use the FLAG parameter to specify the minimum severity of DDS messages which will be printed. For example, you can suppress the warning messages for field overlapping.
The following figure shows a source file that can be processed in batch or interactively to create a file on diskette.
