Defining a key feedback area

To retrieve the concatenated key of a segment, you must define an area into which the key is placed.

The concatenated key returned is that of the lowest-level segment retrieved. (The segment retrieved is indicated in the DIB by the DIBSEGM and DIBSEGLV fields.)

Specify the name of the area using the KEYFEEDBACK option on a GET command.

A concatenated key is made up of the key of a segment, plus the keys for all of its parents. For example, say you requested the concatenated key of the ILLNESS segment for January 2, 1988, for patient number 05142. 0514219880102 would be returned to your key feedback field. This number includes the key field of the ILLNESS segment, ILLDATE, concatenated to the key field of the PATIENT segment, PATNO.

If you define an area that is not long enough to contain the entire concatenated key, the key is truncated.