Relationship: Tool Has Output Parameter

Output parameters of tools are described by the Tool has Output Parameter relationship.

The output parameters of a tool are temporarily saved during the execution of an action, so that subsequent tools can use them as input parameters.

The way in which the output of a tool should be interpreted can be modeled via the type attribute. Depending on the type, a property or a file descriptor must be referenced via the relationship.

Type = String: Default value. The output is assigned as a property value of the referenced property.
Type = File: A tool output that is modeled with the File type is interpreted as a file name. You must reference a file descriptor. If a physical name (Name_Physical) is modeled for the referenced file descriptor, it is temporarily overwritten. The output parameter contains the name of the file, and the referenced file descriptor defines the type and the structure of the file.

Attributes of tool output parameters:

Attribute	Type	Description
Mass Processing	Boolean	If set to false, the parameter is written to the single context. If set to true the output is written to the mass context.
TargetIDFile[D]	File Descriptor	Reference to a file descriptor. This is only visible if the type attribute has been set to “File”.
TargetIDParm[D]	Property	Reference to a property. This is only visible if the type attribute has been set to “String”.
Label [O]	String	The display text of the parameter in the Output dialog box.
Type	Selection	Determines how the output parameter should be interpreted. Valid values include: String File

Tool output parameters of deprecated tools created before Visual COBOL 5.0 have the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description
TargetIDFile[D]	File Descriptor	Reference to a file descriptor. This is only important if the type attribute has been set to “File”.
TargetIDParm[D]	Property	Reference to a property. This is only important if the type attribute has been set to “Element” or “String”.
Label [O]	String	The display text of the parameter in the Output dialog box.
Type	Selection	Determines how the output parameter should be interpreted. Valid values include: String File ToolDefinedResourceOperation MassProcessing Default value is string.
ToOutputDialog [O]	Boolean	Indicates whether the parameter should be displayed in the Output dialog box at the end of the action. This only takes place if there is an Output dialog modeled at the end of the tool sequence.
Ui Category [O]	String	Categorizes the parameter in the Output dialog box. Categorized parameters are enclosed in a labeled frame. Successive parameters with the same categories are enclosed by the same frame in the Output dialog box. See The "UI Category" Attribute for more information.
Ui Resizable	Boolean	Specifies whether a dialog field can be resized or not. Properties of types Boolean, TextArea and TextArray cannot be set to be resizable. The default value is `true`.