Easytrieve plus is an information retrieval and data management system. It is a primitive form of 4GL whose English like language and simple syntax provide the tools for easy data retrieval and report generation, Easytrieve Plus can now produce reports in HTML format. This feature allows you to create reports that can be viewed either from a local disk or LAN or from a World Wide Web server using the Web browser.

1. EASYTRIEVE PLUS

2. Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Capabilities
File access
Field Definition
Logic process
File Output
Report Output

3. 1.2 Environment.
1.2 General Rules.
2 Structure of Easytrieve programs
2.1 Description of various sections.
2.2 Description of statements.
3 Compilation and Running
3.1 Structure of compilation and run
JCL.

4. Introduction
Easytrieve plus is an information retrieval and
data management system
It is a primitive form of 4GL whose English like
language and simple syntax provide the tools for
easy data retrieval and report generation,
Easytrieve Plus can now produce reports in
HTML format. This feature allows you to create
reports that can be viewed either from a local disk
or LAN or from a World Wide Web server using
the Web browser

5. Capabilities
File access :
Easytrieve Plus’ file access features all standard retrieval system
capabilities, and also the following :
Accepts upto 890 input or output files.
Synchronises file processing (based on keys) of an unlimited
number of files.
Tests for file availability and current record count.
Provides search of external & instream files.
Provides easy method for using temporary files.

6. Field Definition:
Easytrieve Plus’ methods of defining all types of record
structures and field formats are consistent and easy to use,
including :
Defining all field formats, including binary and unsigned packed
fields.
Providing flexible edit masks.
Establishing initial values of working-storage fields.
Providing default report headings .
Allow multiple use of field definition using COPY keyword,
reducing coding and maintenance.

7. Logic Process :
Easytrieve Plus provides complete conditional logic, including :
Provides standard programming constructions such as nested IF,
DO WHILE and PERFORM statements.
Supports move for corresponding fields.
Sorts on any number of keys.

8. File Output :
Routine file maintenance is faster and simpler because of
Easytrieve Plus’ enhanced capabilities, including :
Allowing an unlimited number of input and output files.
Loading and updating files, including VSAM, IMS/DLI, IDMS
and SQL.
Saving report extract work files for subsequent use.
Provides a selective hex dump of a file or specific fields.

9. Report Output :
Report generation is the most powerful feature of Easytrieve Plus.
The following features make it widely acceptable to users :
Produces unlimited reports from a single pass of the data.
Automatically formats reports.
Provides customizing alternatives to all report formats.
Provides control breaks on any number of keys.
Creates summary reports containing subtotals.

10. Environment
Easytrieve Plus operates on the IBM 370, 30xx,
43xx and compatible processors in the
DOS/VSE, OS/VS, MVS/ESA and VM/CMS
environments.
Under TSO, CMS and ICCF, Easytrieve Plus
can run interactively for data inquiry, analysis
and reporting.
The output can be either returned back to the
screen or routed to a printer.

11. General Rules
A colon is used to qualify non-unique field name
An asterisk in the first column indicates a
comment. No comments are allowed between
continuations lines
A plus sign indicates that the statement continues
with the first non-blank character in the next
statement area.

12. Structure of Easytrieve
Program
Easytrieve Programs have three main
sections :
Environment Section
Library Section
One or more Activity Sections

13. Environment section
This section is used for customizing the operating
environment for the duration of program
compilation and execution. This section is
optional and if not specified, a default
environment is set.
Keyword used in this section : PARM
Example : PARM LINK (EZTPGM1)

14. DEBUGGING
DEBUG parameter of the PARM statement is
used to generate the output which is helpful in
analyzing programming errors
DEBUG subparameters are
– DMAP - Data definitions for all files and working
storage
– FLDCHK - validates all file/field references
– FLOW - traces statement logic
– STATE - gives statement number of the current
statement executed when abnormal termination occurs

15. XREF - produces a cross-reference of field-name,
file-names, procedure-names
Examples
– PARM DEBUG (DMAP FLDCHK STATE)

16. LIBRARY SECTION
The Library section of the program is used to
define all input, output and working storage fields
used in the program

17. The FILE statement describes an input or output
file and is coded in the Library section.
The syntax is
FILE ddname IS [ES] [F]
F lrecl
V maxlrecl+4
U blksize
FB (lrecl blksize)
VB (maxlrecl+4 maxblksize+4)

18. Field Definition Statement
field-name start-locationfield-length +
data-type [decimal-positions] +
[HEADING ‘literal’] +
MASK ([letter] [BWZ] [‘literal’])
[VALUE literal] [RESET]

19. Field-name
Field name must be unique within a file.
The name can be 1 to 40 alphanumeric
characters.
Special characters can be used, but not
delimiters

20. Start-location
The start location of a filed is the position of
its first character of data relative to the
position of the first character of data in the
record

21. Defining data structure:
Type Max. Length
A Alphanumeric 32, 767
N Numeric 18
P Packed 10
U Unsigned Packed 9
B Binary 4

22. HEADING Parameter
used to specify an alternative column heading
for a field
Eg. CL-NAME 5 20 A HEADING +
‘CLIENT NAME’ produces the column heading
as CLIENT NAME

23. MASK
An Edit mask is a pattern of characters specifying
how non-alphanumeric data is to be printed.
Alphanumeric fields cannot be edited. An edit
mask is created using combinations of the
following characters:
9 Formats digits.
Z Suppresses Leading zeroes
* Replaces leading zeroes with an asterisk
- Prints a minus sign prior to the first non-zero

24. MASK
digit of a negative number
$ Prints a currency symbol prior to the first non-
zero digit.
Eg. For Date ‘Z9/99/99’
For Negative number ‘-,---,9.99'

25. MASK ([letter] [BWZ] [‘literal’])
Letter is used to name the edit mask that
follows it. If we name a mask, we can reuse
it on other field definitions just by specifying
the name. A name can be any letter from A
thru Y.

26. BWZ (Blank When Zero) specifies that a field
should not be printed if the entire field
contains zeroes
System Default Masks
PAY 10 5 N 0 - ‘ZZ,ZZZ-’
PAY 10 5 N 2 - ‘ZZZ.99-’
PAY 10 5 N - ‘99999’

27. REDEFINITION
Redefinition can be done in the following
DOB 103 6 N
MM 103 2 N
DD 105 2 N
YY 107 2 N

28. Working Storage fields can be defined by
specifying W as the start location
VALUE option in the field definition statement is
used to initialize the
contents of a working storage field.
RESET - restores the field to its initial value
whenever JOB or SORT
is executed

29. Activity section
An activity section can be one of two type : JOB
or SORT
A JOB activity is where program logic is
coded. It can also contain a REPORT
subactivity which generates the formatted
report
The SORT activity is simply used to sort the
data before doing other processing

30. JOB activity
Syntax:
JOB INPUT (file-name) START proc-name] +
NULL [FINISH proc-name]
SQL
file-name :Automatic input files to the activity.
proc-name :Procedures to run at the start and/or finish of the
activity.
– START to identify a procedure to be executed during initiation
of the JOB activity
– FINISH to identify a procedure to be executed during the
normal termination of the JOB activity

31. Sort activity
This section is used to sort a data file.
Syntax:
SORT file-1 TO file-2
USING (field1 [D]…) +
[BEFORE proc-name]

32. JOB STATEMENT
It identifies the name of the input file
Syntax
JOB INPUT [file-name] +
[NAME job-name]
The optional name parameter names the JOB
activity. It can be up to 40 characters long. It can
begin with A-Z or 0-9, it cannot consist of all
numeric characters. This parameter is for
documentation only.

33. Processing within a JOB activity is dependent on
the condition (IF) statements in the program
Syntax
IF field-one (EQ OR NE OR GT OR GE OR
LT OR LE) (FIELD TWO OR
LITERAL OR ARITHMETIC
EXPRESSION)
[Statements executed for true IF]
[ELSE]
[Statements executed for false IF]
[END-IF]

34. ASSIGNEMENT
STATEMENT
The Assignment statement establishes a value in
a filed.
Syntax
field-name [INTEGER] [ROUNDED OR
TRUNCATED] EQ field-name-2 or literal or
arithmetic expression
The are 4 arithmetic operations
*, /, + and -

35. If INTEGER is used with TRUNCATED then
only the INTEGER function is performed.
INTEGER, ROUNDED and TRUNCATED are
valid only with Numeric fields only

36. REPORT
The are two parts to every report subactivity
REPORT Statement - which specifies the type
and physical characteristics of the report
Report Definition Statements - which defines
the content of the report

37. REPORT Statement
Report Statement is first coded in the report
subactivity
Syntax
REPORT report-name +
[PAGE SIZE nn] [LINE SIZE nn] +
[SKIP nn] [SPACE nn] [NO ADJUST] +
[NODATE] [NOPAGE] [NOHEADING] +
[LIMIT nn] [EVERY nn]

38. PAGESIZE -Lines per page (Default is 58)
LINESIZE -Length of each line (132)
SKIP -Number of blank lines to be
inserted between line groups (0)
SPACE -Number of blank lines inserted
between field columns and between fields and
literals in title and detail lines(3)
NOADJUST -Requests that the title lines and
report be left-justified on the page. The default is
for the report to be centered on the page

39. NODATE -Inhibits printing the date in
positions one through eight of the first title line
NOPAGE -Inhibits the printing of a page
number.
NOHEADING-Inhibits the printing of column
headings
LIMIT -Limits the number of records printed on
the report
EVERY -Specifies that only every nth line is
printed in the report

40. Report Definition Statements
This is the second part of a report subactivity and
these statements define the content of the report.
This has to be coded immediately after the
REPORT statement in the following order
– SEQUENCE
– CONTROL
– SUM
– TITLE
– HEADING
– LINE

41. SEQUENCE
This statement allows to specify the order of the
data in the report
Sequence can be done on any field from input file
or any W working storage field
Sequence fields are stated in major to minor order
Sequence order is ascending. Coding D after a
field-name reverses the order for that field only.
Syntax
SEQUENCE field-name-1 [D] …. +
field-name-n [D]

42. CONTROL
A CONTROL Statement specifies that a report
should automatically accumulate and print totals.
A control break occurs whenever the value of any
control field changes or end-of-report is reached
A CONTROL field can be any nonquantitative
field from any input file or working storage field
At each control break, the totals are printed for
the quantitative fields specified in the report
Unlimited number of control fields can be
specified.

43. Fields are coded on the CONTROL statement in
a major to minor order.
Syntax
CONTROL Field-name NEWPAGE NOPRINT
FINAL RENUM
– Final totals are automatically provided. You can alter
the default by coding FINAL NOPRINT
– NOPRINT following any field-name or FINAL
suppresses the printing of totals at that control break.

44. NEWPAGE following any field or FINAL causes
a new page with page numbers beginning at one
after the printing of the control break totals (in
case of final, before the printing of the final
totals)
RENUM following any field or final causes a
new page with page numbers beginning at one
after the printing of the control break totals (in
case of FINAL before the printing of the final
totals)

45. SUM
The SUM statement specifies the quantitative
fields to be totaled for a control report
Normally easytrieve Plus totals all quantitative
fields specified on the LINE statement, but the
sum statement overrides this process.
Only the fields specified on the SUM statement
are totalled.
Syntax
SUM quant-field-1 ….. quant-field-n

46. TITLE STATEMENT
The TITLE statement allows you to define a title
for the report.
Up to 99 titles are permitted.
Syntax
TITLE [nn] +/- nn field-name
COL nn literal
+/-nn is used to alter the normal spacing
between literals or fields on the title lines (nn
spaces are added to or subtracted from the
SPACE parameter

47. COL nn specifies the print column number where
the next title item is to begin.
If this option is specified then NOADJUST
should also be specified on the REPORT
statement
If no TITLEs are coded, the date and page
number are not printed.

48. HEADING STATEMENT
The HEADING subactivity OVERRIDES a
HEADING parameter coded in the Library
section
Syntax
HEADING field-name (‘literal’ ….)
Eg. HEADING EMP-NO (‘EMPLOYEE’
‘NUMBER’)

49. LINE STATEMENT
The LINE statement defines the content of a
report line.
LINE 1 is used to designate headings for the
report columns.
Syntax
LINE nn +/-nn field-name
POS nn literal
COL nn

50. +/- is used to alter the normal spacing between
line items. nn is added to or subtracted from the
SPACE parameter
POS is for aligning fields under the
corresponding column heading positions
indicated on the LINE 1 statement.
COL nn specifies the print column number where
next field is to begin.

51. TALLY
TALLY is a system defined field for control
reports.
It contains the number of detail records printed
within each control break and can be printed on
the report.
It can only be used in control reports and the
value of TALLY only appears on summary lines.

52. Relative start-location
– We can define the start-location of a field relative to a
previously defined position in the record.
– Relatively defining a start-location eliminates the
need to identify the actual start-location of a field
– This is most useful when we create output files
Example
EMP# * 5 N
NAME * 16 A
FILLER1 * 10 N
ADDRESS * 39 A
The ADDRESS field would then start in pos 32
in the record

53. Relative Redefinition
– You can relatively redefine a field by
designating the original field-name as the
starting location for all subsequent fields in
the redefinition
– Example
DOB W 6 N
MM DOB 2 N
DD DOB +2 2 N
YY DOB +4 2 N
The starting position of the redefined field is designated
by using the original field plus the sum of the lengths of
all previous fields used in the redefinition.

54. STOP STATEMENT
A STOP statement allows you to terminate an
activity
Syntax
STOP [EXECUTE]
STOP ends the current activity and goes on to the
next activity if additional activities are coded.
STOP EXECUTE immediately terminates all
EASYTRIEVE PLUS execution.

55. DISPLAY
A DISPLAY statement sends data to a specified
output file or output device.
This is commonly used
– For error messages.
– For highlighting reports.
– For hex display of selected information

56. Syntax (Format I)
DISPLAY [file-name] NEWPAGE +INTEGER +
SKIP number COL integer
POS integer
literal-1 ….. Literal-n
field-name-1 ….. Field-name-n
If you specify the file-name, EASYTRIEVE
PLUS prints data to the named file. If file
name is not specified the default is
SYSPRINT/SYSLST (EASYTRIEVE
PLUS output files)

57. NEWPAGE option specifies that a skip to a new
page occurs before the data is printed.
SKIP option specifies that the designated number
of lines are skipped before the data is printed.
Coding integer modifies the horizontal spacing
between display items.
The COL integer option specifies the print
column number where EASYP places the next
display item.
The POS integer option on DISPLAY statements
within report procedures causes the next display
item to be positioned under the corresponding
position on LINE 1 statement.

58. Syntax (Format II)
DISPLAY [file-name] NEWPAGE HEX field-name
SKIP number file name
In this format , EASYTRIEVE PLUS produces a
hexadecimal and character dump of the current
record or the specified field-name
The parameter other than HEX, operate the same
as in Format I

59. REPORT statement
Syntax
– REPORT report-name [DTLCTL FIRST]
EVERY
NONE
[SUMCTL HIAR DTLCOPY]
NONE
TAG
[SUMMARY]
[SUMFILE file-name]
[PRINTER file-name]

60. DTLCTL determines when control field values
are printed on detail lines :
FIRST detail line (Default)
EVERY detail line
NONE of the detail lines
SUMCTL determines when control field values
are printed on total summary lines
HIAR prints all fields from major control to
minor control as far as the breaking field.
This is default.

61. NONE inhibits printing of control field
values on total lines
TAG prints the control field name and
the literal TOTAL on the left side of the
subtotals
DTLCOPY print all values from detail lines onto
summary lines
SUMMARY produces a summary report that
contains only total lines.
SUMFILE generates a summary file.

62. A summary file is a file that contains the
values for all control and summed fields at
each minor break.
The summary file can be process by
subsequent JOB activities
Summary file can be requested by defining the
file in the library and then creating it via
REPORT SUMFILE parameter.

63. VFM
Virtual File Manager (VFM) provides an easy
method for establishing temporary work files
without special job control or file allocation
statements.
It is a sequential access method for program work
files
It dynamically allocates space in memory for
work files when sequencing a report or when
producing multiple reports

64. CALL Statement invokes an external subprogram.
The called program is an existing program in another
language
Syntax
CALL program-name USING field-name …… +
RETURNS field-name-2
GOTO or GO TO statement is used to modify the natural
top-to-bottom logic flow in a program
Syntax
GO TO or GOTO label/JOB
A label can be up to 40 characters long and it must be in
the same activity or procedure

65. FILE PROCESSING
EASYTRIEVE PLUS process the following file
types
– SAM
– ISAM
– VSAM
– IMS/DLI
– IDMS
File processing can be done either Automatically
(using JOB or SORT) or programmer controlled
(using GET, PUT, READ, WRITE …)

66. The GET Statement retrieves the next record of
the named file into the file input area
Syntax
GET file-name
file-name is input file name
EOF - Test of end-of-file when using the GET
command
PUT statement outputs a file sequentially
Syntax
PUT outfile [FROM file-name]

67. File processing fields
RECORD-LENGTH is a two byte binary field
with zero decimal places used for all file types to
determine or establish the length of the current
data record. For variable length records, this field
contains only the length of the records data
RECORD-COUNT is a read-only four byte
binary field with zero decimal places which
contains the number of logical I/O operations
performed on a file
FILE-STATUS contains the results of most
recent I/O operations on a file

68. TABLES
A table is a collection of uniform data records in
a form suitable for quick reference
– A search argument (keyword ARG) that uniquely
identifies that entry
– A description (Keyword DESC) is the data associated
with the argument
The user’s objective is to obtain the description
from a table of values based on the search
argument

69. A table file must be arranged in ascending order
by argument
No duplicate arguments can be places in the file
A minimum of three entries are required in a
table
Syntax
FILE file-name TABLE INSTREAM
literal
– INSTREAM denotes that the table file immediately
follows the file description

70. Literal specifies the number of entries in an
external table. Specify a value
here only if the number of entries is greater that
256
ENDTABLE must be the last entry in the
instream table data

71. Instream example
FILE STATTBL TBLE INSTREAM
ARG 1 2 N
DESC 4 15 A
01 ALBAMA
02 ALASKA
03 ARIZONA
ENDTABLE

72. SEARCH statement is used to perform an in-core
binary search of a table.
Syntax
SEARCH file-name WITH field-name-1
GIVING field-name-2
Field-name-1 is the name of a field which
contains a value that is compared to the search
argument
Field-name-2 is the name of a field into
which the description is places if a match exists
between field-name-1 and the search argument.

73. Example of an Easytrieve program
FILE PERSNL FB(150 1500)
NAME 17 8 A
EMP# 9 5 N
DEPT 98 3 N
NET 90 4 P 2
GROSS 94 4 P 2

74. JOB INPUT PERSNL NAME FIRST-PGM
*
REPORT PAY-RPT LINESIZE 80
SEQUENCE DEPARTMENT NAME
CONTROL DEPARTMENT
TITLE 01 ‘PERSONNEL REPORT’
TITLE 02 ‘SECOND TITLE’
HEADING EMP# (‘EMPLOYEE’ ‘NUMBER’)
LINE 01 NAME DEPT EMP# +
GROSS NET

75. OUTPUT
09/03/01 PERSONAL REPORT PAGE 1
SECOND TITLE
EMPLOYEE
NAME DEPT NUMBER GROSS NET
RAJ 911 01963 445.50 300.00
RAMAN 01234 100.00 100.00
911 545.50 400.00
SUMIT 912 24689 100.00 200.00
912 100.00 200.00
645.50 600.00

76. Structure of compilation and run JCL
//jobname accounting info
//STEPNAME EXEC PGM=EZTPA00,REGION=300K
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLIN DD DSN=obj-module-dsn,DISP=…
//SORTWK01 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,1)
//EZTVFM DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,1)
//userfile DD dd-parms
//SYSIN DD DSN=program-ds,DISP=SHR

77. Thank You