Advanced Topics

Deleting an ADABAS Observation

If the ADABAS file on which a view descriptor is based does not contain a periodic group, deleting an observation (for example, with the FSEDIT procedure DELETE command) causes a logical record to be deleted from the ADABAS data.

If the ADABAS file on which a view descriptor is based contains a periodic group, the results of deleting an observation depend on the status of the ADBDEL systems option. The ADBDEL systems option is set either in the ADBEUSE CSECT (see System Options for PROC ACCESS and the Interface View Engine) or by a data set option (see Data Set Options for ADABAS).

When ADBDEL=N (which is the default setting), the following results occur:
- If there is only one periodic group occurrence (regardless of how many periodic group fields are in the view descriptor) and there are no other periodic group fields in the ADABAS file, deleting the observation containing the one occurrence causes the logical record containing the occurrence to be deleted.
- If there are multiple occurrences for any periodic group field(s) in the view descriptor or if there are other periodic group fields in the ADABAS file, deleting the observation containing values from a periodic group occurrence causes the selected values for that occurrence to be set to null. The record is not deleted.
If ADBDEL=P, the entire logical record is deleted, even if there are multiple occurrences for periodic group fields in the view descriptor or if there are other periodic group fields in the ADABAS file.

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