I suspect that the Ron is talking about distributed files...... 

Ron - this is a mechanism where you can split the data over several 
individual part files, but still be able to see it all together as one 
logical file. This means that you can open the file as a whole, and read 
records or select the whole file or you could open an individual part file 
and read records or select the records in the individual part file.

This is mainly used for two purposes. One is where you have a file size 
limit and you need to be able to store more data than the file can 
possibly hold. For example, a 32 bit Universe file can only have 2gb of 
data. If you need to have more than that amount you have two choices - 
convert the file to 64 bit if the underlying OS will allow it, or to 
distribute the data across part files.

The second purpose is to split the data into more manageable and logical 
chunks. For example, if you have invoice transactions that you keep for 
many years, it may make sense to have a part file for each year of data. 
So you would have a distributed file called INVOICES, with part file of 
INVOICES.06, INVOICES.05, INVOICES.04 etc. You would usually also define a 
bucket file called, for example, INVOICES.REST, which would hold all the 
INVOICES records that you didnt want to store in an individual part file. 
That way, you could store most of you very old invoices in INVOICES,REST, 
and the more recent ones in the part file for the year in which they were 
raised.

The advantage of doing this is that you if you want to run reports for 
this year, you only need to select INVOICES.06, and that will only contain 
the invoices raised for this year, so it can run much quicker. If you want 
to do reports for last year, then you can run the same programs or RECALL 
statements against INVOICES.05, and that will then give you data for last 
year. If you want to run reports for everything, then you run the same 
programs or RECALL statements against INVOICES, and you will get the data 
for everything.

The limitation is that the information which decides which part file a 
record is to be stored in must be part of the key. In the INVOICES 
example, the year must be part of the key to the INVOICES file.

There are downsides to using distributed files. One is that when you open 
the whole file, Universe actually opens all the part files as well. The 
number of files that can be opened at any one time by a process is usually 
a hard OS limit. Universe overcomes this OS limit by using the concept of 
a rotating file pool, where once the OS limit is reached, the file that 
has not been used the longest is closed, and the slot used for the new 
file to be opened. Normally, this is not much of a performance hit, but if 
you are calling subroutines frequently that open files, and especially 
open distributed files with lots of part files, then it can become an 
issue.

For more information on how to create and manage distribute files do a 
HELP on DEFINE.DF and LIST.DF.




"Bob Woodward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
17/05/2006 00:04
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Subject
RE: [U2] Multiple Data Files
Entity
Investment Banking Europe - IBEU






If you are meaning multiple data record structures inside of a single
file then for me, it's a lot more manageable to keep things like control
records in a single file/table than to have many files/tables with only
one or a few records/rows.

If this is not what you mean then your question has me totally confused.

BobW

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ron Hutchings
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 2:33 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [U2] Multiple Data Files

I came to the Pick world by way fo Prime Information through Universe
with
the Prime Flavor.  I am currently working on an implementation of
Universe
with the Pick flavor.  I have come across examples fo Multiple Data
Files in
the application and am having a difficult time understanding the purpose
of
this file structure.  Can anyone share some practical uses for these
file
structures?
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************************************************************
HSBC Bank plc may be solicited in the course of its placement efforts for 
a new issue, by investment clients of the firm for whom the Bank as a firm 
already provides other services. It may equally decide to allocate to its 
own proprietary book or with an associate of HSBC Group. This represents a 
potential conflict of interest. HSBC Bank plc has internal arrangements 
designed to ensure that the firm would give unbiased and full advice to 
the corporate finance client about the valuation and pricing of the 
offering as well as internal systems, controls and procedures to identify 
and manage conflicts of interest.

HSBC Bank plc
Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ, United Kingdom
Registered in England - Number 14259
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
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