catalog/sysfiles

The catalog/sysapps table contains metadata for app name objects on a path for a select object type. The default is for file type MASTER (Master Files), but is settable for other types. Unless limited in some way, all objects (of the selected type) are displayed.

This section only touches on basic uses typically needed by a developer. The Master File on disk robustly describes more attributes than are described here. You can directly study it in order to understand other uses. The catalog/sys* group of files are subject to change (and are usually upwardly compatible). You should never write applications that have specific dependencies (typically on object size), which tend to cause upward compatibility issues.

Listing APP MASTER Objects

The following request lists file names, file names with their application paths, and extensions of files with file type MASTER (the default):

TABLE FILE SYSFILES
PRINT FILENAME LGNAME PHNAME EXTENSION
END

The output (with some records and whitespace selectively removed for readability) is:

FILENAME         LGNAME    PHNAME                          EXTENSION
--------         ------    ------                          ---------
...
mydata           MASTER    baseapp/mydata.mas              mas
mdschema         MASTER    _edahome/catalog/mdschema.mas   mas

Listing APP FOCEXEC Objects

The following request sets the file type to FOCEXEC and then prints the file names, file names with their application paths, and extensions of files with file type FOCEXEC:

SQL FMI SET SYSFILES FOCEXEC
TABLE FILE SYSFILES
PRINT FILENAME LGNAME PHNAME EXTENSION
END

The output (with some records and whitespace selectively removed for readability) is:

FILENAME         LGNAME    PHNAME                          EXTENSION
--------         ------    ------                          ---------
...
myproc1          FOCEXEC   baseapp/myproc1                 fex
myproc2          FOCEXEC   baseapp/myproc2                 fex
...

Note: The value for LGNAME will switch to DEFAULT if the data is limited and only one object returns.

A valid value for the SQL FMI SET SYSFILES command is any valid FOCUS file type. Some examples are FOCUS, FOCEXEC, STY, PDF, or ACCESS. For a full list of valid file types, see Designating File Types for APP Commands.

Using the SYSFILES Table to Check File Existence

The following practical example of using the SYSFILES table to check file existence prints the filename myproc1 with extension fex (with the file type set to FOCEXEC). If no lines are returned, the file does not exist and the procedure exits. If the file exists, the procedure transfers to the point at which processing continues.

SQL FMI SET SYSFILES FOCEXEC
TABLE FILE SYSFILES
PRINT FILENAME ON TABLE HOLD 
WHERE FILENAME = 'myproc1' ;
WHERE EXTENSION = 'fex' ;
END
-IF &LINES GT 0 THEN GOTO RESUME
-TYPE Procedure Not Found ... exiting!
-EXIT
-RESUME