Saving Your Report Output

In this section:

Naming and Storing Report Output Files

The following commands extract and save report output in a variety of file formats:

HOLD. The HOLD command creates a data source containing the output of a report request. By default, the data is stored in binary format, but you can specify a different format, such as FOCUS, HTML, or Excel. For some formats, the HOLD command also creates a corresponding Master File. You can then write other report requests that in turn extract or save data from the HOLD file. See Creating a HOLD File.
SAVE and SAVB. The SAVE command is identical to a HOLD command, except that it does not create a Master File, and ALPHA is the default format. If you wish to create a SAVE file in BINARY format, use a variation of the SAVE command called SAVB.
As with a HOLD file, you can specify a variety of formats suitable for use with other software products. See Creating SAVE and SAVB Files.
PCHOLD. The PCHOLD command creates a data source containing the output of a report request, and downloads the HOLD data source and the optional Master File to a client computer or browser. As with a HOLD file, you can specify a variety of file formats. See Creating a PCHOLD File.

Tip: When saving or holding output files, it is recommended to have an Allocation in place for the file. This is not applicable for PCHOLD files.

Naming and Storing Report Output Files

During a session, a report output file remains usable until it is erased or overwritten. A subsequent output file created during the same session replaces the initial version, unless you give it another name by using the AS phrase.

A FILEDEF command is automatically issued when you create an output file. The ddname used to identify the file is the same as the name of the report output file (HOLD, SAVE, or SAVB, or the name in the AS phrase), if not already allocated.

By default, report output files created with HOLD, SAVE, or SAVB are written to temporary space. When the session ends, these files are no longer available unless you save the output to a specific location.

To save report output files to a specific location, use an ALLOCATE or FILEDEF command. For details, see Saving and Retrieving HOLD Files. You can dynamically allocate an output file using the DYNAM ALLOCATE or TSO ALLOCATE command in z/OS.

For details, see the TIBCO WebFOCUS® Developing Reporting Applications manual.

When you create a HOLD file using the syntax ON TABLE HOLD AS name, the name can contain up to the maximum number of characters supported by your operating system. For information, see the section Naming a Master File in the Describing Data With TIBCO WebFOCUS® LanguageTIBCO FOCUS® Describing Data manual.

While a numeric name or a name beginning with a number is valid on many operating systems, such names are discouraged because they:

Cause errors (FOC14069) when a request attempts to access data using a SUFFIX=EDA synonym that points to a file starting with a number. (Note that a SUFFIX=EDA synonym is created by the Adapter for Remote Servers.)
May cause problems when an external application (such as an API application) that does not accept files starting with numbers interacts with a SUFFIX=EDA synonym that points to a file starting with a number.
May be problematic to a third party application that does not work with numeric file names or with file names that begin with numbers.