Course description: UniData and UniVerse Database Programming

Build on your existing programmer skills by exploring many of the diverse commands and options available with UniData and UniVerse programming. In the lecture and hands-on labexercises, focus on learning how to use the commands and options that lead to increased programming proficiency and productivity. Explore fundamentals of the development environment, through the primary system tools, and the intricacies of manipulating the native data structures of strings, dynamic arrays, and multivalued fields.

Skills taught 

• Design simple procedural programs
• Implement these programs in BASIC involving coding, compiling, testing, and debugging
• Interact with U2 database files
• Employ techniques that control transfer of data between users, U2 database files, and printers
• Read and modify BASIC programs written by others

Course outline 

Editor and stack commands

• Create and modify source code using the line editor
• Employ stack commands within the line editor

Compiling and running programs

• Compile a BASIC program
• Execute a BASIC program using the RUN verb
• Catalog a compiled BASIC program
• Execute a cataloged BASIC program

BASIC language structure

• Identify statements and labels in BASIC code
• Name data categories in BASIC
• Identify legal variable names in BASIC

Assignment statements

• Create expressions in BASIC
• Assign the result of an expression to a variable
• Use special assignment operators in BASIC code
• Assign a value to a substring and a delimited field

Programming terminal Input/Output (I/O)

• Write BASIC code to request information from the user
• Receive information from the keyboard
• Display information on the terminal screen
• Declare a prompt character

Program flow control

• Write BASIC code to execute statements conditionally
• Execute a sequence of statements iteratively
• Branch to different sections of code
• Invoke internal and external subroutines

Reading a U2 file

• Write BASIC code to open a U2 hashed files
• Read a record from a U2 hashed file
• Set a record update lock

Compiler directives and system variables

• Use BASIC compiler directives
• Use system variables in BASIC source code

External execution and Select List processing

• Write BASIC code to capture the results of an externally executed command
• Determine whether a Select List is active
• Generate an active Select List
• Process key values from a Select List

Dimensioned and dynamic arrays

• Differentiate between dimensioned and dynamic arrays
• Write BASIC code to manipulate data in a dimensioned or dynamic array
• Convert between dimensioned and dynamic arrays

Intrinsic functions

• Use intrinsic functions to manipulate character strings, perform conversions, work with system date and time, and evaluate I-descriptor expressions

Writing to U2 files

• Write BASIC code to write records into and delete records from a U2 file
• Handled record locking correctly
• Begin, commit and roll back transactions

Sequential processing

• Write BASIC code to send output to a printer
• Open files, read from files, write to files, and close a file opened for sequential access

Troubleshooting techniques

• Generate a cross-reference listing of a U2 BASIC program
• Incorporate conditionally compiled source statements
• Step through a U2 BASIC program using UniDebugger