Administrative functions > Files used by Quantum > Levels file
 
Levels file
The levels file is required only if multicard records are to be processed using the levels facility. It is an alternative to the struct statement used in ordinary runs and names the various levels and determines which cards belong in each level.
Defining the structure of the data file
The file starts with a number of statements defining the overall structure of the data file. The statements must start on a new line and are as follows:
ser=start_col, end_col
The serial number location.
crd=start_col[, end_col]
The card type location.
max=card_number
The number of the highest card type. Only required if records contain more than nine card types.
maxsub=cards_per_record
The maximum number of sub-records (cards) per record. The default is 4096 sub-records per record. On small (int=short) computers, the absolute maximum number of sub-records per record is 32,767. On large computers (int=long), the theoretical limit is 2,147,483,647, but the actual limit depends on the amount of memory space available to the datapass program.
reclen=length
The record length if greater than 100 columns.
Defining the levels in the data
The rest of the file is concerned with defining the levels in the data. Up to nine levels are allowed. They must be defined in order, starting with the highest level. You define this with a statement of the form:
level_name cards=card_num1[r][, card_num2[r], ... ]
Where r indicates that the card must be present in every record.
Lower levels are defined using statements of the form:
level_name [cards=card_numbers] parent_level
If no card types are given, the data for this level is read from the cards of the parent level.
The levels file is named levels on all systems.
For further details about levels, see Dealing with hierarchical data.
See also
Files used by Quantum