Work with Entries

Entries are the central concept in ITP DID construction. From the point of view of ITP Model construction an Entry describes the data that can be retrieved from the database with one single data retrieval action. In this aspect the Entry parallels the description of a database file or table. Most Entries will in fact be no more than the description of one file or table from the database, but the Entry concept is much broader that that.

An Entry consists of:

• the primary Entry attributes , e.g. the name of the Entry, or its type
• the extended Entry attributes (only if the Entry was generated)
• the set of Formal parameters
• the set of Fields
• (optionally) the set of Screen fields
• (optionally) a reference to an iSeries program

When comparing an Entry to a database file or table the Formal parameters parallel the key fields of a file or table, while the Entry Fields parallel the fields in that file or table. When considering the more dynamic aspects of an Entry it can best be looked at as the description of a program: "given the values of the Formal parameters all records in the database that are identified by these values must be retrieved and the values described by the Fields must be passed to ITP".

From the panel "Work with Entries" Entries can be created, changed, deleted etcetera, and Entry-Subentries relations can be manipulated: