JRecord

JRecord 0.93.4 Readme

This versions contains

• Fix for running tests under maven
• A new parse statment in RecordEditor-Xml File descriptions. This means all the parameters associated with a Cobol copybook in a Xml file
• more comments added to the code

Notes for New Users

The ReadMe_NewUsers.md has an expanded version of this section. The first thing new users need to decide is

• Are you going to use the Java interface ???, then see Java Interface section
• Are you going to use the existing Cobol2Csv / Cobol2Xml interfaces. These programs will convert Cobol-Data-Files to/from Csv/Xml files.
• Are you going to write your own generic interface ???. If so look at the CobolSchemaReader class and see how it is used in Cobol2Xml. Also If copying files, look at Copy class.

JRecord Download site

JRecord is available from Sourceforge:

• JRecord on Sourceforge
• JRecord Download
• JRecord Wiki
• JRecord Questions on stackoverflow
• JRecord Forums on Sourceforge
• JRecord Tickets on Sourceforge

**Current JRecord Download:

• JRecord Download Version 0.93

JRecord

Introduction

JRecord provides

• IO routines for Length Based (Lines are either fixed length or a length field at the start of the record) files. Standard Text files are also supported
• IO routines for Cobol Data files (both Text and Binary).
• IO routines for Flat Files (both Fixed Field width and CSV files).
• Cobol2Csv, Csv2Cobol and Cobol2Cobol utilities
• Same IO routines for all File Types (XML (via StAX parser), CSV and Fixed Field Width)

For Documentation see JRecord Documentation

Getting started with JRecord Java interface

The easiest way to access JRecord is via IOBuilders (using the JRecordInterface1 class):

     ICobolIOBuilder ioBldr 
                 = JRecordInterface1.COBOL
                     .newIOBuilder("CobolCopybook.cbl")
                         .setSplitCopybook(CopybookLoader.SPLIT_01_LEVEL)
                         .setDialect(ICopybookDialects.FMT_FUJITSU);
     AbstractLineReader reader = ioBldr.newReader("input File Name");
     AbstractLine l;
         
     while ((l = reader.read()) != null) {
         ...
     }
     reader.close();

There is a description of using the IOBuilder interface in the JRecord Manual. You should also investigate the Code Generation options.

Cobol Copybook

Thomas Fuller has written a good introduction to Cobol Copybooks

Code Generation

To help you get started with JRecord, there are 2 Code Generate options available:

• The JRecord CodeGen sub-project will generate a skelton Java~JRecord Read/write programs from a Cobol Copybook.

• JRecord CodeGen is now part of the RecordEditor see RecordEditor Generate option for details. Also see

  • StackOverflow question
  • RecordEditor Generate JRecord Code Documentation

Reading Example

Code to read a Cobol file (Generated by CodeGen utility):

         ICobolIOBuilder iob = JRecordInterface1.COBOL
                               .newIOBuilder(copybookName)
                                  .setFont("cp037")
                                  .setFileOrganization(Constants.IO_FIXED_LENGTH)
                                  .setSplitCopybook(CopybookLoader.SPLIT_NONE)
                                      ;  

           FieldNamesDtar021.RecordDtar021 rDtar021 = FieldNamesDtar021.RECORD_DTAR021;
           AbstractLineReader reader = iob.newReader(dataFile);
           while ((line = reader.read()) != null) {
               lineNum += 1;
               System.out.println(
                             line.getFieldValue(rDtar021.keycodeNo).asString()
                     + " " + line.getFieldValue(rDtar021.storeNo).asString()
                     + " " + line.getFieldValue(rDtar021.qtySold).asString()
                     + " " + line.getFieldValue(rDtar021.salePrice).asString()
                  );
           }

           reader.close();

Cobol Field Name class (Generated by CodeGen utility):

    public class FieldNamesDtar021 {
    
        public static final RecordDtar021 RECORD_DTAR021 = new RecordDtar021();
    
        public static class RecordDtar021 {
           public final String keycodeNo = "KEYCODE-NO";
           public final String storeNo = "STORE-NO";
           public final String theDate = "THE-DATE";
           public final String deptNo = "DEPT-NO";
           public final String qtySold = "QTY-SOLD";
           public final String salePrice = "SALE-PRICE";
        }
    }

Writing with JRecord Example

            FieldNamesDtar022.RecordDtar022 rDtar022 = FieldNamesDtar022.RECORD_DTAR022;
	        ICobolIOBuilder iobWrite = JRecordInterface1.COBOL
	                .newIOBuilder(outCopybookName)
	                   .setFont("cp037")
	                   .setFileOrganization(Constants.IO_FIXED_LENGTH)
	                   .setSplitCopybook(CopybookLoader.SPLIT_NONE)
	                       ;  
	        AbstractLineWriter writer = iobWrite.newWriter(outputFileName);
	        AbstractLine dtar022Line  = iobWrite.newLine();

            dtar022Line.getFieldValue(rDtar022.keycodeNo).set("223");
            dtar022Line.getFieldValue(rDtar022.theDate)  .set(22);
            dtar022Line.getFieldValue(rDtar022.deptNo)   .set(22);
            dtar022Line.getFieldValue(rDtar022.qtySold)  .set(5);
            dtar022Line.getFieldValue(rDtar022.salePrice).set("123.45");

            writer.write(dtar022Line);

            ...
            
            writer.close();

Hadoop

If working with Hadoop have a look at:

• copybook formater and ftp2hdfs
• CopybookInputFormat

Software Recommendations

Previous versions of JRecord came with utilities (editors etc), this version does not with old utilities (it does have Csv2Cobol and Cobol2Csv utilities).

I would suggest you:

• Download and use the RecordEditor to view / edit your Cobol files. You can also use the RecordEditor to generate JRecord code.

You can use the RecordEditor to view / try out the JRecord-options before writing your code. In the future, I hope to release a Cobol-Version of the RecordEditor that uses Cobol-Copybooks and Xml-File descriptions. This will replace the old JRecord-Utilities. This is unlikely to be released before the end of 2015 though.

Change Summary

Changes 0.93.4

• Fix for running tests under maven
• A new parse statment in RecordEditor-Xml File descriptions. This means all the parameters associated with a Cobol copybook in a Xml file
• Some more comments

Changes 0.93.0

This versions includes

• Use of cb2xml version 1.01.5 or later is required.
• Creating 2 new interfaces IFileStructureConstants (File Structure/Organisation constants) and ISelectionOperators (Record Selection operator constants) have created. The values where previously in Constants Interface, the Constants Interface now extends the new interfaces.
• Copying cb2xml Conditions into JRecord-Layouts (file schema's). This is useful in CodeGen
• Cb2xml ICobolCopybookTextSource interface can be used as a Copybook source.
• CodeGen improvements

Changes that should not matter to users of JRecord

• Minor fix to Record-Layout-Selection
• Fix for trailing space in getFieldText method
• Adding validation method isValid() to the FieldValue class.
• Many internal changes (e.g. add isValid method to type interface, add isPositiveNumeric method to TypeManager class).
• Change Type hierachy, BaseType is the new Top of the Type Class Hierarchy (instead of TypeChar). Numeric Types are either TypeNum or Extend TypeNum. TypeNum extend BaseType (instead of TypeChar).
• Adding RECORD_SELECTION_BUILDER to JRecordInterface1
• CodeGen related changes, these include:
  • Create Java Interface to CodeGen. This new Java interface has file-analysis option that will analyse a sample file and try and determine the file strucure and Record Mapping.
  • Option to rename duplicate fields

Changes 0.90

• Change to use cb2xml 1.00. Cb2xml now converts Cobol directly into Java classes which are used by JRecord (instead of going via Xml).
• JRecord now stores both the traditional Flat field list + Cobol Item Tree. This provides greater access to the original Cobol data.
• Improved performance when accessing Comp, Comp-3 and Mainframe Zoned Decimal. For smaller numerics, conversion is done using long variables instead of Objects. This improves performance by 70 / 80 %
• New Cobol Copybook Split option.
• Updates to CodeGen - JRecord Code Generat