Importing and Exporting QMF Objects

You can write applications that use QMF objects outside of the QMF environment. To place QMF objects outside of the QMF environment, you need to use the QMF EXPORT and IMPORT commands.

You can export the following objects:

chart

data

form

procedure (proc)

query

report

table

 

When you export an object, QMF converts the object to an externalized format and places it in a file, data set, or CICS data queue. The externalized format of QMF objects is a powerful element of QMF application development. The IMPORT command reads the externalized format from a file, data set, or CICS data queue and places the object either in QMF temporary storage or in the database (depending on how you issue the command).

You can export data and table objects in either the QMF or IXF format. The format for form, Prompted Query, and report objects is a more complex format called the encoded format. Charts are exported in Graphics Data Format (GDF), a GDDM format.

This chapter describes all the QMF export formats and shows how you can use them in your applications. Appendix B. Export/Import Formats describes the QMF format for data and defines the table and field numbers for encoded format objects. For information about IXF format, see Appendix C. Integrated Exchange Format (IXF).

To see the syntax of the IMPORT and EXPORT commands, see QMF Reference , and for information about importing and exporting QMF objects, see online help.