Can we save a flat file in windows

[maxneo02]

Hi,
I created a report and copy pasted the contents to notepad and saved it as .csv so that it can be opened via Excel(it appears in required format). Is there any way through which we can directly store the flat file in .csv format in windows. Whether it can be done in JCL? Please reply in detail.

 

[webrabbit]

You mentioned JCL and Windows. The two do not go together. Could you give more details? I assume that the file exists on an IBM mainframe using OS/390 or such. Is this the case? What do you mean by a flat file? QSAM? How would you access it under Windows?

 

[Dimandja]

Generally, if your fiel is a simple text file, and the fields are, say, comma-delimited, and the suffix you save it with is csv, Excel should be able to open it. Try it and let us know of any problem.

Dimandja

 

[MarcLodge]

Max,
We are all guessing here as you have not given us the full picture. Please get back to us with more information.

My guess, for what it's worth, is that you are running a Cobol program that produces a report of data, that you subsequently cut and paste down to a PC. If this is the correct scenario, I would suggest looking at the usage of the report (is it used in it's current format on the mainframe?) and seeing if it can't be tailored for your purposes (eg add the relevant commas to make it a true CSV file). I would then look into passing it to the PC using FTP or something like Connect-Direct, which can be achieved in JCL. The file would then be available to open straight into Excel.

Come back to us with more info so that we can help further .

Marc

 

[joepiemeloenie]

You can create a CSV and insert comma's using IEBGENER in JCL.

 

[ceh4702]

We use a package for FTP to download files to the PC from Barnard Software. A simple COBOL program can make vsam files in storage areas that can be copied to the Host Transfer File area and then FTP'd to the PC. They also have an option to FTP from the mainframe in the background partition from JCL. A comma is just text. If you have a vsam file it doesnt care if you store a comma or whatever in a file.

We also have an application that does the same thing. Decision Analyzer is an application that can make download files or reports, it Excel, or database DB3, or Text, or CSV format. It is a nice application and works on VSE/ESA, but it takes some time to make up the DDF format files to process normal indexed files and manipulate data.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.