SDF Group

To create an SDF group:

  1. Create a field and name it on the Field Properties dialog box.
  2. Create a second and third field and name them.
  3. Select all three fields.
  4. Right-click one of the selected fields and click Make SDF Group on the popup menu.

Look at the SDF properties for one of the fields. The BMS Painter has assigned a default SDF group name. If you want to refer explicitly to the group array in the copybook, you must change this default group name. If you don't change the SDF group name, it will not be included in the BMS macro file.

Having created the SDF group you can repeat it:

  1. Right-click one of the fields in the group.
  2. Click Add Group Row on the popup menu.

The copybook entries show that this is a one-dimensional array (a repeated group).

The map now looks like the one shown in the figure below.

A repeated group in the BMS Painter

The default group name (assigned by the BMS Painter) was not changed and so does not appear in the generated BMS macro file:

SDFGRP1  DFHMSD
               LANG=COBOL,    -               
               MODE=INOUT,    -               
               STORAGE=AUTO,  -               
               TIOAPFX=YES,   -   
               TYPE=&&SYSPARM 
SDFGRP  DFHMDI SIZE=(24,80) 
* FIELDA
FIELDA  DFHMDF LENGTH=4,      -
               POS=(3,10) 
* FIELDB
FIELDB  DFHMDF LENGTH=5,      -
               POS=(3,19) 
* FIELDC
FIELDC  DFHMDF LENGTH=6,      -
               POS=(3,29) 
* FIELDA
FIELDA2 DFHMDF LENGTH=4,      -
               POS=(4,10) 
* FIELDB
FIELDB2 DFHMDF LENGTH=5,      -
               POS=(4,19) 
* FIELDC
FIELDC2 DFHMDF LENGTH=6,      -
               POS=(4,29) 
        DFHMSD TYPE=FINAL
        END