Specification-file conventions

Use specification files to create, modify, and describe the HPL objects. When you enter the onpladm command to describe an object, the contents of the specification file appear.

When you create a job or map with a quick command, the onpladm utility uses default attributes to create the job or map. If you create a job or map with a specification file, you can specify attribute values.

The following diagram illustrates the syntax to create or modify an object by using a specification file.

Figure 1: Creating or modifying an object with a specification file


Element	Purpose	Key considerations
-F specfilename	Sets the specification file	The default value is the standard output.
-S servername	Sets the onpload database server	The default is the value of the INFORMIXSERVER environment variable.

Use the following conventions when you create specification files:

Begin object definitions with BEGIN OBJECT and end them with END OBJECT.
If object definitions contain variable items, begin each variable item with BEGIN SEQUENCE and end each item with END SEQUENCE.
For example, you might use the following specification file to create a device array that consists of a file and a pipe:
```
BEGIN OBJECT DEVICEARRAY mydevice 
# Optional Attributes 
BEGIN SEQUENCE 
TYPE FILE 
FILE /work/data.unl 
TAPEBLOCKSIZE 0 
TAPEDEVICESIZE 0 
PIPECOMMAND 
END SEQUENCE 
BEGIN SEQUENCE 
TYPE PIPE 
FILE 
TAPEBLOCKSIZE 0 
TAPEDEVICESIZE 0 
PIPECOMMAND /work/bin/datacreate.sh 
END SEQUENCE 
END OBJECT 
```
For more information about attributes and their possible values, see the description of each specification file.
Precede comments in specification files with a pound sign (#).
List attributes in the exact order in which the specification-file format displays them.
Use the following syntax to refer to the attributes of an object or the attributes of elements of an object:
Attribute_name Attribute_value
Important: Do not use this for BEGIN and END statements and comment statements.
You must always provide an attribute name. You must provide both the attribute name and the attribute value to describe a required attribute, but you only have to provide the attribute name if the attribute is optional.
Attributes and their values depend on their object type. For more information about attributes and object types, see the corresponding specification files.
Enclose attribute values that contain spaces in double quotation marks.
Precede double quotation marks in attribute values with a double quotation mark.
For example, to enter a MATCH condition for " CA" in a filter object, include the following line:MATCH =""CA""

For more information about file conventions, see individual specification-file formats.