How do I find the column listing in UniVerse with RetrieVe or SQL?

Question

I\'ve got an issue where a table (file) is set up to return column foo on LIST table and SELECT * FROM table. I need to know

Answer 1

In Universe every file has an associated dictionary file. The dictionary file is basically just a data file and can be treated exactly like a data file for a variety of purposes. There are 3 things that make a dictionary file special:

1. You access it via the "DICT" keyword in front of the data file name.
2. The LIST (and related commands) command will use it by default to process the associated data file.
3. It has a structure that is defined by the DICT.DICT file, which you need to follow in order for item 2 above to work.

Generally, the dictionaries are maintained by the programmers and database administrators manually. There's no controls in Universe to guarantee that DICT records are created for every field in the associated data file and no reason that you can't have many DICT records for each field. Dictionary items are used to control output formatting and conversions, so it's normal to have multiple DICT items for each data field.

Dictionary records can also join data fields together, perform operations on multiple fields and grab data from other files. So at times it's not even clear what data field a DICT record actually relates to.

The only way to come up with a simple list of dictionary items that correspond to a data file is by inspection. Use the LIST DICT {filename} command and find the entries with the least amount data manipulation in them in their formatting fields.