ACCESS / AQL

The Access Query Language (AQL) is a D3 facility used to retrieve and output data. It is an original component of the D3

AQL uses TCL commands and displays the results either on terminals or printers. AQL operates on specified files and item

The after relational operator represents a greater than condition used in constructing selection clauses. The gt and > o

The and clause is used between selection criteria clauses to indicate that both condition being evaluated as true select

The any modifier searches an entire item for a match, all attributes and all values. Each value is compared to the selec

AQL commands essentially break down into these categories:

The following AQL commands are available.

The following AQL modifiers are available.

This section presents information for each of the AQL relational operators and logical clauses.

In an AQL sentence, the command and file reference are required. The AQL command must be the first word of the sentence.

User exits allow direct access to system functions.

The before relational operator represents a less than condition used in constructing selection clauses. The < and lt ope

The break-on modifier creates a visual break in output data when the value in the current output field is different from

The by modifier designates a sort key, in ascending order, and must be followed by an attr.name. It may be used with any

The by-dsnd modifier designates a sort key, in descending order and must be followed by an attribute name. It may be use

The by-exp modifier designates a sort key, in ascending, exploded MultiValue order and must be followed by an attribute

The -by-exp-dsnd modifier is followed by an attribute name that references a MultiValue attribute to be used individuall

The check-sum command calculates a hexadecimal checksum for a specified attribute, or the entire item if no attribute is

The col-hdr-supp modifier suppresses column heading above output columns and default page heading on AQL reports.

The conv modifier substitutes the conversion codes specified in conversion for attribute 7 of the specified Attribute-De

The converting-nulls modifier allows all values (including nulls) to be processed by the output-conversion. Normally, nu

The count command produces a total of the number of items that meet the selection criteria as determined by the item.lis

The dbl-spc modifier double-spaces output by inserting a blank line between items.

Default attribute items have numeric item-IDs starting with 1.

In addition to explicitly listing attribute names as part of the AQL sentence, there are three features that can be used

The det-supp modifier suppresses the detail lines in a report. It provides the ability to easily fold detailed informati

The dict modifier is used immediately preceding a file name and affects the dictionary level of the specified file rathe

The equal operator represents an equal to condition used in constructing selection clauses. When a valuestring is includ

The eval modifier performs the operation specified in the expression on the specified Attribute-Defining-Items. The expr

The every modifier forces comparison on every value, rather than any value.

A file reference is a standardized mechanism for designating a particular file within D3.

The fill modifier forces listings into an across-the-page format if the listing would otherwise be noncolumnar. The head

The fmt modifier substitutes the column heading, justification and width settings specified in "{&#39;<column-heading>&#

The footing modifier designates a text string composed of literals and special options to output at the bottom of each p

The ge relational operator represents a greater than or equal to condition used in constructing selection clauses.

The grand-total modifier substitutes a string of text in place of the standard "***" literal string normally output on t

The gt operator is a greater than relational operator.

The hash-test command produces a histogram, or graphic representation of item-ID distribution within a given file, accor

The hdr-supp modifier suppresses the default page heading (system time/date and page number) on output.

The heading modifier designates a text string composed of literals and special options to output at the top of each page

The id-supp modifier suppresses the automatic display of item-IDs in the leftmost column of an AQL report.

The ifno modifier is the same as indicating with no or with not in an AQL sentence.

Indexes can be used with the following types of selection criteria:

The istat command produces a graphic representation of item-ID distribution within a file and suggests a new modulo. The

The item list specifies one or more item-IDs in the file defined by the associated file reference.

The le operator selects items whose specified attribute name contains a value less than or equal to the specified value

The legend-supp modifier suppresses the output of the legend on list and sort operations directed to the spooler.

The list command generates formatted output based upon the specified arguments. If an item list is specified, items are

The list-item command displays items in their internally stored format. The list-item command combines the action of the

The list-label command produces one or more columns of output.

The locking modifier locks an item for AQL report processing. The purpose of this modifier is to prevent transient GFEs

The lptr modifier directs output of AQL sentences to the system printer, via the spooler. The output is directed accordi

The lt operator selects items whose specified attribute name contains a value less than the specified value string.

Modifiers control listing parameters such as double-spacing (dbl-spc), control breaks (roll-on or break-on), column tota

The ne operator selects items whose specified attribute name contains a value not equal to the specified value string.

The ni-supp modifier suppresses the number of items listed message at the end of most AQL reports.

The no operator reverses selection condition.

The nopage modifier prevents terminal output from pausing at the end of each page. CTRL+X, which terminates a report whe

The not operator represents a not equal to condition. This reverses the true sense of the condition in a selection crite

The nselect command selects items that would fail the selection criteria of a select. When an output list displays in an

See eval modifier for more information.

The only modifier ignores default attribute-defining items and displays only the item-IDs from the given file reference.

Options are used to alter the behavior of AQL sentences.

The or clause is used between selection criteria clauses to indicate that either condition being evaluated as true selec

Output specifications specify the attributes to list.

Phrases must be defined in the dictionary of the file that the phrase is used (or in the account&#39;s master dictionary

Print limiters suppress the listing of attributes within an item that do not meet specified limits.

With the AQL pre-processor, quotation marks are not required to distinguish values from other parts of an AQL sentence.

The reformat command takes values from the attributes specified in the command and places them either in another file or

Relational operators are modifiers used to establish criteria based on the relationship of data to fixed values or other

The require.select command is used with any AQL sentence when you want to process a select list.

The AQL processor uses both the master dictionary and the file dictionary to determine the definition of the elements in

The roll-on modifier creates a visual break in output data when the value of a specified attribute changes; an improveme

The sampling modifier limits the number of items processed by the AQL sentence to a specific number. If selection criter

The select command retrieves all items from the specified file reference that meet the optional selection criteria. The

Selection criteria determines which items are to be processed by AQL and is designated by the with or if modifiers. With

The show-nulls modifier allows the display of empty multivalues.

The sort command generates sorted and formatted output of selected items and attributes from a specified file. The outpu

A sort criteria defines the AQL collation sequence. The sort is invoked by the by, by-dsnd, by-exp, or by-exp-dsnd modif

The sort-item command displays items in their internally stored format, in order of the given sort-key. The sort-item co

The sort-label command produces one or more columns of output in order of the specified sort-key. The sort-label command

The sreformat command moves the sorted values from the attributes specified in the AQL sentence and places them either i

The ss (spreadsheet) connective allows printing out AQL reports in spreadsheet format. This is achieved by adding the ss

The sselect command creates a sorted list of items from the specified file reference that meet selection criteria.

The stat command outputs the total number of items processed and an average value of all items that meet the specified s

AQL permits the use of string searching (sometimes called wildcards), that allows introducing variables into the selecti

The sum command produces a numeric total of a given attribute for all items meeting the optional selection criteria. If

The tape modifier retrieves data from the currently attached tape, rather than the actual data level of the file. The ta

The tcl-supp modifier suppresses the display of the AQL (TCL) sentence used to generate the report on printed output onl

Attribute items using special attribute names can be specified in an AQL sentence without actually existing in either th

Throwaway connectives are a class of AQL modifiers that have no effect on command execution.

The total modifier accumulates a columnar total for a specified attribute-defining item.

See eval modifier for more information.

The u1070 user exit returns a checksum for the current item.

The u201e user exit returns the number of attributes in an item.

The u2070 user exit returns the checksum value for the specified frame.

The u3070 user exit returns the PCB FID for the current process as four hexadecimal digits.

The u5070 user exit converts a string to the form: string[1,3]: "-000"

The u508e user exit calls the copy processor from AQL. Headings and footings may be included. This is the same as list-i

The u6070 user exit inputs up to 100 characters. A CR/LF is output immediately after the : prompt character, which displ

The u7070 user exit inputs up to 100 characters.

The u9070 user exit toggles the page/nopage format. This is the same as activating the AQL n option.

The ua070 user exit returns the specified value from a MultiValue set. The value count (the nth value to return) follows

The uc070 user exit returns the specified value from a MultiValue set.

The using modifier allows AQL to report on the data in a given file using attribute-defining items from a different file

The with modifier marks the beginning of a selection processor conditional, which is processed against the associated fi

The within modifier retrieves a list of all the items that are subitems of a specified item. This is used to explode one

The without modifier negates the normal rules for selection criteria. if no, with no, and with not are identical to with