Sort Interface

The Sort object (ISort) is returned by the CreateSort function of the ComScript connection. Through this object, the functionality of the AMT Sort utility can be used in programs that are written in any COM supporting development environment.

The following functionality is provided:

Properties

Name	Type	Access	Description
CopyOption	Boolean	Read/Write	Sets the SORT copy option (copy only, no sort).
DeleteDuplicateRecords	Boolean	Read/Write	Delete duplicate records in the sorted file.
DupeOption	String	Read/Write	Duplicate option. Allowed values are: "LASTDUP" - remove every duplicate entry except for the last duplicate item. "FIRSTDUP" - keep the first item and remove every duplicate entry after.
ErrorCode	Integer	Readonly	The error code of the Sort object. Zero means there is no error.
ErrorDescription	String	Readonly	The error description of the Sort object. When no error occurred Ok will be returned.
FileRecordEnding	AmtFileRecordEnding	Read/Write	The file ending used by the file. For the allowed options see the AmtFileRecordEnding table below.
NoDups	Boolean	Read/Write	Reserved for future use.
SortLinkSize	Integer	Read/Write	Sets the SORT link size.
SortNumRec	Integer	Read/Write	Specifies the number of records to process, should be set between 1 and 34,359,738,367.
WorkFolder	String	Read/Write	Set the temporary work folder name.
YYDateKey	Boolean	Read/Write	Set to true if the key is a date without century.

Functions

Function Name	Return type	Parameters		Description
Function Name	Return type	Name	Type	Description
AddAcceptKey	Void			Adds an ACCEPT parameter to the sort command.
		StartPos	Integer	The starting position.
		Length	Integer	The number of characters to be tested.
		Type	String	The Kind of data the field contains. Can be ASC, CAS or DEC.
		Operation	String	Test operation. Can be =, >, >=, <, <= or <>.
		Value	String	Contains the test data to be compared.
		LogicalOp	String	Logical operation. Can be AND or OR.
AddFileIn	Void	FileName	String	The path and name of the file to sort. More than one file may be added. They will be concatenated before sorting.
AddIfthenFindRepItem	Void			Adds a FINDREP (find/replace) item to the current IFTHEN block (INREC or OUTREC).
		InValue	String	Value to find (already resolved).
		OutValue	String	Replacement value (already resolved).
		StartPos	Integer	Start column (1-based, inclusive). 0 = whole record.
		EndPos	Integer	End column (1-based, inclusive). 0 = whole record.
AddIncludeClosingBracket	Void	---		Adds a closing bracket to the list of include keys for nested conditions.
AddIncludeKey	Void			Adds an INCLUDE key to the sort command. When the condition matches, the record will be added to output.
		StartPos	Integer	The start position of the key.
		Length	Integer	The number of characters to be tested.
		Type	String	The kind of data that the field contains. Can be CH (character), BI (binary), PD (packed decimal), AQ (character with alternate collating sequence).
		Operation	String	Test operation. Can be =, >, >=, <, <= or <>.
		Value	String	Contains the test data to be compared.
		LogicalOp	String	Logical operation. Can be AND or OR.
AddIncludeLogicalOperator	Void	LogicalOp	String	Adds logical operator AND or OR to nested keys, the operator between closing and opening bracket.
AddIncludeOpeningBracket	Void	---		Adds an opening bracket to the list of include keys for nested conditions.
AddInrecField	Void			Adds a field to the input record.
		AbsolutePos	Integer	Absolute column position of the field in the input file.
		InputPos	Integer	The start position of the field in the input file.
		InputLength	Integer	Length of the field in the input file.
		SeparationField	String	Separation characters to be put behind the field to separate it from the next field. Can be <n>X or <n>Z. <n>X adds n spaces to the output record, <n>Z adds n binary zeroes to the output record. Example: "2X"
AddInrecIfthenOverlayItem	Void			Adds an OVERLAY item to the current INREC IFTHEN block.
		OutputPos	Integer	Output position (1-based). -1 for continuation.
		InputPos	Integer	Input position (1-based). -1 for literal items.
		InputLength	Integer	Number of characters to copy. 0 for literal items.
		LiteralValue	String	Literal string to write. Empty string for field-copy items.
AddInrecIfthenWhenCloseParen	Void	---		Record a closing parenthesis in the current WHEN expression. The close count is attached to the most recently added WHEN condition of the current block.
AddInrecIfthenWhenCondition	Void			Adds a WHEN condition to the current INREC IFTHEN block.
		StartPos	Integer	Start position (1-based).
		Length	Integer	Field length.
		Format	String	The format of the field. Can be CH (character), BI (binary), PD (packed decimal).
		Operation	String	Comparison operator:. Can be EQ, NE, GT, LT, GE, LE.
		CompareValue	String	Value to compare against (already resolved).
		LogicalOp	String	Logical operator to next condition: AND, OR, or empty.
AddInrecIfthenWhenInit	Void	---		Marks the current INREC IFTHEN block as WHEN=INIT (always applies).
AddInrecIfthenWhenLogicalOp	Void	LogicalOp	String	Sets the trailing logical operator (AND/OR) that connects the most recently added WHEN condition of the current block to the next condition.
AddInrecIfthenWhenNone	Void	---		Marks the current IFTHEN block as WHEN=NONE. The block applies only to records that were not selected by a preceding WHEN=(logexp) block in the same INREC/OUTREC statement.
AddInrecIfthenWhenOpenParen	Void	---		Record an opening parenthesis in the current WHEN expression. The pending open count is attached to the next WHEN condition added via AddInrecIfthenWhenCondition.
AddJoinKey	Void			Adds a JOINKEYS key field for one of the two input files.
		FileId	Integer	1 for SORTJNF1/F1, 2 for SORTJNF2/F2.
		StartPos	Integer	1-based start position of the key field in the record.
		Length	Integer	Length of the key field.
		Order	String	Sort order: A (ascending) or D (descending).
AddKey	Void	StartPos	Integer	Add a key to sort on. Multiple keys may be added, they will be evaluated in the order they are added. The description of the parameters together with the allowed values can be found in the table below.
		NumberOfChars	Integer
		Type	String
		SubType	String
		SortingOrder	String
AddOmitClosingBracket	Void	---		Adds a closing bracket to the list of omit keys for nested conditions.
AddOmitKey	Void			Adds an OMIT key to the sort command. When the condition matches, the record will be added to output.
		StartPos	Integer	The start position of the key.
		Length	Integer	The number of characters to be tested.
		Type	String	The kind of data that the field contains. Can be CH (character), BI (binary), PD (packed decimal), AQ (character with alternate collating sequence).
		Operation	String	Test operation. Can be =, >, >=, <, <= or <>.
		Value	String	Contains the test data to be compared.
		LogicalOp	String	Logical operation. Can be AND or OR.
AddOmitLogicalOperator	Void	LogicalOp	String	Adds logical operator AND or OR to nested keys, the operator between closing and opening bracket.
AddOmitOpeningBracket	Void	---		Adds an opening bracket to the list of omit keys for nested conditions.
AddOutrecField	Void			Adds a field from the input file to the output record.
		AbsolutePos	Integer	Absolute column position of the field in the input file.
		InputPos	Integer	The start position of the field in the input file.
		InputLength	Integer	Length of the field in the input file.
		SeparationField	String	Separation characters to be put behind the field to separate it from the next field. Can be <n>X or <n>Z. <n>X adds n spaces to the output record, <n>Z adds n binary zeroes to the output record. Example: "2X"
AddReformatField	Void			Adds one segment of the REFORMAT FIELDS spec that describes how to build the joined output record from slices of the F1 and F2 records.
		FileId	Integer	Source file: 1=F1, 2=F2, 0=filler (spaces).
		StartPos	Integer	1-based start position in the source record (ignored for filler).
		Length	Integer	Number of characters to copy (or spaces to emit for filler).

AddSortSelect	Void			Adds a SELECT parameter to the sort command.
		StartPos	Integer	The start position
		Length	Integer	The number of characters to be selected.
		OutputPos	Integer	The output position of the selection.
				The output position of the selection.
AddSumField	Void			Add a field that gets its values summed for all duplicate records into 1 record. Only 1 record (in AMT the first record) will be written with the summed values. Other duplicate records are not written to the output file.
		StartPos	Integer	Start position of the key.
		Length	Integer	The number of characters to be tested.
		Type	String	The kind of data that the field contains. The allowed values can be found in the Type parameter in table below.

BeginInrecIfthenBlock	Void	---		Begins a new INREC IFTHEN block.
BeginOutrecIfthenBlock	Void	---		Begins a new OUTREC IFTHEN block (post-sort processing).
EndInrecIfthenBlock	Void	---		Finalize the current INREC IFTHEN block and add it to the list.
EndOutrecIfthenBlock	Void	---		Finalize the current OUTREC IFTHEN block and add it to the OUTREC list.
Init	Void	---		Initialize the Sort object (clear all settings of a previous sort)
SetFileOut	Void	FileName	String	The path and name of the file to write the sorted output to.
SetIfthenBuild	Void	---		Marks the current IFTHEN block as a BUILD (reformat) block. BUILD rebuilds the record from an empty buffer using the item list, while OVERLAY modifies the record in place.
SetJoinType	Void	JoinType	String	Set the join type for a JOINKEYS application. Supported types: PAIRED = inner join (default); UNPAIRED,F1 = left outer; UNPAIRED,F2 = right outer; UNPAIRED,ONLY = unmatched only
SetLinkSize	Void	Size	Integer	Sets link size, which affects how much of any variable length record is significant to the sort operation being performed.
SetNumericCoding	Void	Coding	String	Defines how Signed values are stored when using overpunch. There are four options: LION (default) ANSI EBCDIC UNIX If you are not sure which coding must be used, then this can be checked by the setting of the application option "Numeric Sign Encoding" in AMT Developer (see the AMT Developing manual). Attention: The NUMERIC-CODING setting in ComScript Sort should always be changed according to the setting in AMT Developer Studio, and not the other way around. The setting in AMT Developer Studio should never be changed since this would lead to unpredictable behavior.
SetRecSize	Void	Size	Integer	The size of the records to use for the output file. Longer records will be truncated and shorter records will be extended to this size.
SetSortSequence	Void	SortSequence	String	With this function the sort order of characters in a text file can be changed. Normal (default) is digits before capitals before lowercase letters. By using the SortSequence string "a-z,0-9,A-Z" the sort order will be lowercase before digits before capitals. Individual characters can be given the same place in the order by using the equal sign. For example "a=A,b-z,B-Z,0-9" will put lowercase and capital A at front followed by the lowercase letters the capitals and the digits. info Note: the sort sequence is reversed when in the AddKey function the sort order is set to descending.
SetUnicode	Void	Unicode	Boolean	Sets Unicode or ASCII. Set to true for Unicode.
SortFile	Void	---		Execute the sort.
SortFileFromScript	Void	---		Execute the Sort from a script. This implements accept and select functions.

AddKey Parameters

Parameter	Allowed Values	Description
SortingOrder	ASC DSC	Sort ascending or descending.
NumOfChar	any integer	The length of the field to use as key.
StartPos	any integer	The starting position of the field to use as key in the record.
SubType	L T l t	Subtype for signed numerics. L is leading separate, T trailing separate, l leading overpunch and t trailing overpunch.
Type	A 1 N 2 S 7 O 0 E 9 =	The type of the field. Some types are restricted by the application origin. A is Alpha, N is Numeric, S is Signed, O is Numeric computational, E is Financial computational, 1 is Numeric bit9 (OS2200 only), 2 is Financial bit9 (OS2200 only), 7 is Numeric binary (IBM & Microfocus), 0 is Financial binary (IBM & Microfocus), 9 is Numeric comp 9 (OS2200 only), = is Financial comp 9 (OS2200 only)

AmtFileRecordEnding

Value	File record Ending
0	Default
1	CR/LF
2	CR
3	LF
4	None

Example

PowerShell

# See ComScript Connection Interface
# ... 

$ComScr.Connect()

#Create an Object of the Sort Interface
$Sort = $ComScr.CreateSort()

$Sort.AddFileIn('D:\Data\filetosort.txt')
$Sort.AddKey(1,3,'N',' ','ASC')
$Sort.SetFileOut('D:\Data\fileSorted.txt')
$Sort.SetRecSize(20)
$Sort.Sortfile()

#Check if an error occurred and log if so.
if ($Sort.ErrorCode -ne 0) {
  [void]$Msg.AddMsgInformation("ErrorCode is: $($Sort.ErrorCode)")
  [void]$Msg.AddMsgInformation("ErrorDescription is: $($Sort.ErrorDescription)")
} else {
  [void]$Msg.AddMsgInformation("Sorting succeeded.")
} 

# Finally release the variables and clean up the session.
$ComScr.Dispose()