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PowerBSORT

 

 

 Fujitsu PowerBSORT for UNIX


Contents


PowerBSORT significantly shortens the time needed to merge or sort data for business processing. You get rapid, high-performance merging and sorting of large volumes of data without disrupting your current environment. PowerBSORT thus offers a straightforward way to slash response times for merges and sorts.

 

Highlights

  • Improve merge/sort times by as much as 100% over other solutions
  • Boost the efficiency of data searches by loading sorted data into DBMS tables
  • Simplify merge, sort, and copy operations with an easy-to-use interface
  • Speed processing without extra programming effort or disruption to your environment

PowerBSORT handles a variety of file types. It sorts and merges C-ISAM files and NetCOBOL files directly on UNIX platforms (Sun SOLARIS and HP-UX).

Additionally, you have flexibility in the way you use PowerBSORT. You can run it via Motif windows and as a command under UNIX. You can also include PowerBSORT in both COBOL and C-language applications.

Along with the merge, sort, and copy functions, PowerBSORT provides a record reconstruction feature that creates an output record by relocating and combining fields from the input record with self-defined values. Further, a same-key feature combines values from multiple records into a single record by adding the summation field values when records have the same key field value. The same-key feature is used with the sort or merge functions.

All the features of PowerBSORT are easy to use, with menus and a tool bar making choices clear. PowerBSORT gives you more than one way to perform many actions. When specifying a sort key, for example, you can either type the specification or use a specialized dialog box. A key can also be selected from the list of previously specified key fields by clicking PowerBSORT's History button. Detailed on-line help is always available.

Tests have shown that PowerBSORT merges and sorts data approximately 30% faster than the sort function in COBOL. You can shorten sort times even more using the PowerBSORT command window. By substituting PowerBSORT for the merge/sort utility you currently use, you gain immediate productivity improvements.

PowerBSORT Features

  • SORT - sort records in a specified sequence
  • MERGE- merge sorted records
  • COPY - output records from one file to another
  • Record Selection - select records to SORT, MERGE or COPY
  • Record Reconstruction - pick up the specified field of an input record, and reconstruct the record during sorting, merging or copying
  • Same Key - during SORT or MERGE you can output records according to the input order, delete all records except only one record, combine records into one record by summing up the summary field values for the records with the same key.
  • Supported Files – NetCOBOL files, C-ISAM files, UNIX files, CSV and TSV format files, text files with fields separated by specified character(s)
  • Codes sets:
    • ASCII code (compares as 8 bits)
    • Extended UNIX code (compares in collating sequence according to locale in SVR4 MNLS)
    • Unicode
  • Specific data types:
    • Fixed point binary numbers (C integer type)… Big Endian/Little Endian
    • Floating point binary numbers
    • Packed decimal numbers
    • COBOL external decimal numbers

Detailed Features and Benefits

The table below lists key features and benefits of PowerBSORT.

Note: PowerBSORT V6 is the version that is shipped with NetCOBOL for SPARC Architecture V10.
New in: Feature Summary Detail of Feature Benefit of Feature

 

 

 

 

 





+V5


+V5

 

 





+V5



+V5

 Sort/Merge/Select/ Sum/Reconstruct files

PowerBSORT provides the following sort and related functions for COBOL, text and binary files:

Sort records by a specified key.

Merge files according to the order specified by a key field.

Copy files from one organization to another.

Select records from files.

Combine two or more records, summing a specified field. The sum field format can include features like zero suppression and signs.

Summation continues even if the summation field has overflowed.

Use input data to create different record structures in the output file.

Record Reconstruction - pick up  specified fields from an input record, and reconstruct the record during sorting, merging or copying.

Can define data from a specified field “to the end of the record” as input to the reconstruction.

Ability to configure the collating sequence used.

 You can sort files without having to write special programs.
V4 Sorts COBOL relative files PowerBSORT can now sort COBOL relative files as well as the other COBOL file formats. You can apply PowerBSORT functions to the full of COBOL file organizations.
  Callable from C PowerBSORT includes subroutines that can be called from C. Enhance your C applications with the functions of PowerBSORT.

 

 

 

+V5

 Code Sets

PowerBSORT supports the following codesets:

  • ASCII (compares as 8 bits)
  • Extended UNIX code (compares in collating sequence according to locale in SVR4 MNLS)
  • Unicode
Enables you to sort the files in the codesets you are most likely to be using.
  Specific data types

Specific data types supported:

  • Fixed point binary numbers (C integer type)… Big Endian/Little Endian
  • Floating point binary numbers
  • Packed decimal numbers
  • COBOL external decimal numbers
 Handles the types of numeric data commonly used in COBOL applications.

+V5

 Command line interface Drive PowerBSORT using a rich command line, with ability to store command-line parameters in an argument file. Parameters can be placed in both the command line and the argument file. Makes it easy to set up batch sort operations.
+V5 File size limits Increased from 40GB to the system’s limit` No PowerBSORT constraints on the size of file being sorted.
V5 Startup file Startup file no longer required when using COBOL or C-ISAM files for PowerBSORT commands or functions.  
V6 Handles CSV, TSV and text files Comma Separated Values (CSV) files, Tab Separated Values (TSV) files, and text files with fields separated by configurable character values are supported. Increases range of files that canbe sorted by PowerBSORT.
V6 FIFO sorting supported For files which contain records with identical key values you can specify that the output order of the records should be the same as the input order (first in first out, or FIFO) Makes output order of records with identical keys predictable.
V6 +0 and -0 can be treated as equal Certain types of numeric field will contain different values if they are set to +0 or -0. PowerBSORT gives you the option of treating these values as identical. Field types that can show this behavior:
  • Packed decimal number (USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL)
  • External decimal number (USAGE DISPLAY)
  • Leading separate signed number (USAGE DISPLAY SIGN LEADING SEPARATE)
  • Trailing separate signed number (USAGE DISPLAY SIGN TRAILING SEPARATE)
  • Leading overpunch signed number (USAGE DISPLAY SIGN LEADING, with no SIGN SEPARATE)
  • Trailing overpunch signed number (USAGE DISPLAY SIGN TRAILING, with no SIGN SEPARATE)
  • Numeric character strings and mixed character and numeric strings definable using PowerBSORT options
 Usually most applications do not want to treat +0 and -0 as different values so makes the sort operation give the desired results.
V6 Error messages output to event log Error messages can optionally be output to the syslog.

Message date, type and numbers can be output.		 Useful for analyzing problems that occur in production or testing.
"+Vn" in the "New in:" column indicates a feature that contains new or improved elements as well as existing elements. The number n indicates the PowerBSORT version in which the new feature was introduced. Recent PowerBSORT versions were released in the following NetCOBOL products:
PowerBSORT V4 – NetCOBOL V7
PowerBSORT V5 – NetCOBOL V9
PowerBSORT V6 – NetCOBOL V10

An In-Depth Look at PowerBSORT

The following sequence of screen captures lets you see the features of PowerBSORT at work.The screen captures are taken from PowerBSORT's interactive interface supplied with the Enterprise Edition of NetCOBOL; you can of course call PowerBSORT directly from your programs without going through the interactive interface.

PowerBSORT's Interactive Interface
Sorting
Specifying Key Fields
Summing

PowerBSORT's Interactive Interface
PowerBSORT provides a handy interactive interface for performing file sorts and merges. This can be useful for one-off operations, or for checking sort parameters before cementing them in your code.



Sorting
With PowerBSORT's interactive interface, sorting is straightforward and fast: specify the file to be sorted with its format, the output file with format, the key field and record length, and away you go! The "View" buttons take you to dialogs to help you select files or setup the key fields.


Specifying Key Fields
Key field specification couldn't be easier. PowerBSORT gives you a preview of the records. You can either enter the key field offset and length or select the appropriate area in the record contents window. PowerBSORT can cope with many types of keys - simply select the type from the pull-down list.



 

Summing
One of PowerBSORT's useful extra features is the ability to sum particular fields for records that have identical keys. For example you may want to combine all sales records for a region into a single record with the total figure for all the sales - this is a quick and easy operation with PowerBSORT. It can be performed at the same time as sorting or merging files. Other "extras" are the ability to select which records to include in the output file, and to construct output records from a mixture of input record fields and data you specify.


 

Platforms Supported

  • Sun Solaris® Version 2.5.1
  • Sun Solaris® Version 2.6
  • Sun Sparc Solaris® Version 7
  • Sun Sparc Solaris® Version 8
  • Sun Sparc Solaris® Version 9
  • Sun Sparc Solaris® Version 10
  • HP-UX® Version 10.x
  • HP-UX® Version 11.x



Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the run-time charges for using PowerBSORT?

Answer: You need to have a PowerBSORT license for any machine using PowerBSORT. Contact your NetCOBOL sales representative for details about volume pricing.

2. How much can PowerBSORT speed up my COBOL program sorts?

Our tests indicate PowerBSORT improves sort speeds by a factor of around 30%.

3. What exactly are the extra PowerBSORT features provided with the Enterprise Edition of NetCOBOL?

Answer: The additional features provided with the Enterprise Edition of NetCOBOL are:

  • You can call PowerBSORT from C programs.
  • It speeds up normal COBOL sorts by up to 30%
  • There is a standalone GUI interface
  • There is a command line interface for supporting batch processing.

4. Can this work like mainframe sorts - for example to do batch sorting?

Answer: Yes - PowerBSORT has a command line interface that enables you to create shell script to drive sorts. For one-off sort tasks you can use the interactive interface that helps you enter the data to drive the sort in a quick and friendly manner.


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