Specification of Input Data Records Tab

This section includes the fields and descriptions for the Specification of Input Data Records tab.

Input Data Record Island

Field Description
Input Data Format This field displays the input data format assigned to the current input data record. When you create an input data record, you can write the name of the input data format, which should be assigned to the record, in this field. You cannot change the assigned input data format of an existing record.
Input Data Form This field displays the input data form assigned to the current input data record. When you create an input data record, you can write the name of the input data form, which should be assigned to the record, in this field. If you write “#STANDARD,” this record applies to all input data forms within the current input data format. You cannot change the assigned input data form of an existing record.
Record Type This field displays the current record’s type. When you create a record, you can choose between the following record types: “File Start Record,” “Sector Start Record,” “Payment Record,” “Sector End Record,” and “File End Record.” You cannot change an existing record type.
System No. This field is not used in the current version of Maconomy.
Record ID In this field, you can write a name that identifies the record. This ID can be assigned to a whole group of fields which are then displayed in the table part. If the ID is changed, no fields are displayed in the table part, or another group of fields are displayed. When creating a field in the window Specification of Input Data Records, the group (record ID) assigned to the field is specified.

Please note that if you select the action “Delete Input Data Record” from the File menu and a record ID is displayed in this field, all fields in the current group of fields will be deleted. If you only want to delete the record, but not the fields (which might be assigned to other records), remove the record ID from this field before you delete the record.

Identification In this field, you must specify the current record’s identification. Contrary to the field “Record ID” above, you have the freedom to choose an ID in this field, but you must specify the identification specified for the current record in the received format specification.
Fixed Record Length In this field, you can specify the length that should be applied to the current records. Certain formats specify that a fixed length should be applied to all records; this is specified in the window Specification of Input Data Formats. The specification in this field only applies to the current record.
No. of Fields In this field, you can specify the number of fields the current record should consist of, if the window Specification of Input Data Formats specifies a character or a code in the field “Field Delimiter,” but no character or code in the field “Record End” in the same window. Please note that if the field “Fixed No. of Fields” in the window Specification of Input Data Formats contains a number, you do not need to specify a number in this field.
Next Record In this field, you can specify which records can follow the current record. This is specified by referring to the identification entered for the record in question in the field “Identification.” This way you can be sure that the structure of the input data file is correct.

If the current record has the type “File Start Record,” and the payment format specifies that this record must be followed by a record of the type “Sector Start Record,” then in this field you can enter the identification of the record in question. If the format allows several types of records to follow the current one, you can enter several record identifications, separated by a space, for example, like this: “01•10•15.” If the current record is the last record (of the type “File End Record,” you can enter “EOF” (End of File) in this field.

Maconomy searches for the identification of the next record from the position(s) specified in the island Input Data Records in the window Specification of Input Data Formats.

Calculation Island

Field Description
1-10 In these fields, you can specify calculation formulas for variables defined for the current format in the window Specification of Input Data Formats. The number refers to the variable with the corresponding number in the window Specification of Input Data Formats - variable 1 = variable 1, variable 2 = variable 2, and so on.

The fields can either be used as a calculation or as a control of the customer payment file. The calculation or control takes place after all fields and variable operations of the current record have been processed. In the following, some examples of usage of these fields are shown.

Example 1

In one field, Maconomy checks the value of the field using variable operations. Depending of the value of the field, the variables 1-4 are set to “true” or “false.” In this example, variable 1 has been set to “true,” and variables 2-4 have been set to “false.” In the field in this island which refers to variable 1, the value “#COMPLETED” is specified. This value is the name of a field of the type Boolean. You can find the field names to which you can refer in the list in “Appendix D: Reference Fields in Format Specifications” of the Reference Manual. In the fields 2-4 other field references to Boolean fields are specified.

When the calculations in this island are carried out (as the last calculations in the current record), the value of the field #COMPLETED is set to “true.” After the payment file has been read in Maconomy, this is displayed in the window Show Collection Orders in the Banking module as a mark in the field “Completed” in the table part for the customer payment record in question.

Example 2

In a variable of the type “Amount,” the amount of each customer payment record can be added up. In the end record of the file, the total amount can then be compared with the amount specified in the start record of the file to make sure that the amounts are identical. If they are not the same, it may be an indication that the file has been tampered with manually.

Variable Operations Island

Field Description
1-10 In these fields, you can specify calculation formulas for variables defined for the current format in the window Specification of Input Data Formats. The number refers to the variable with the corresponding number in the window Specification of Input Data Formats - variable 1 = variable 1, variable 2 = variable 2, and so on.

The variable operation is carried out each time the current record is written to the file. In the table part of this window, you can specify further variable operations that should be carried out for each field in the current record when the record is written to the file. The variable operations in the table part are performed before the variable operations in the card part.

As an example of a calculation, you can increase the variable for a customer payment record that specifies the total number of records by one. If you have specified in the window Specification of Input Data Formats that variable 3 is of the type “Integer,” you can write the following in front of line no. 3 in this island

#VARIABLE.3 + 1

The result is that variable 3 is assigned the value of variable 3 plus one.

If variable 5 has been specified as being of the type “Amount Field,” you can write the following in front of line no. 5 in this island:

#VARIABLE.5 + #INPUTDATALINE.AMOUNTCURRENCY

The result is that variable 5 is assigned the value of variable 5 plus the amount from the current customer payment record. This way, the total customer payment is summarized.

You can also refer to the special variable #VARIABLE.0, which contains the value currently read from the customer payment file.

In “Appendix D: Reference Fields in Format Specifications” in the Reference Manual you can find a list of all elements that you can refer to.

You can use the following operators in the expressions:

+ | - | > | < | = | >= | <= | <> | * | / | %

On a Macintosh, you can also write >=, <= and <> as follows:

Š | ð | ¦

The operator / indicates division and returns a real value, also when dividing two integers. The operator % returns a percentage – #VARIABLE3 % VARIABLE4 thus shows variable 3 less variable 4, divided by variable 4 and multiplied by 100. If variable 4 is 0, the result will also be 0.

User Island

Field Description
Created This field shows the date and name of the user who created the record.
Changed This field shows the date and name of the user who recently made changes to the record.
Version This field shows the latest version number of the record. The number is incremented by one each time a change is made to the record.