SERIAL Directive

This directive is used to define a serial data field. To trigger the generation of a serial number by isCOBOL, insert a record and supply 0 value for the serial field. If you insert a new row and supply an integer value instead of a 0 value, isCOBOL will not generate a serial number. If the supplied integer value is greater than the last serial number generated, isCOBOL will reset the sequence of generated serial numbers to start with the supplied integer value.

$EFD SERIAL

or

*(( EFD SERIAL ))

or

*>(( EFD SERIAL ))

Example

01 EMPLOYEE-RECORD.     05 EMP-KEY.        10 EMP-TYPE PIC X. $EFD SERIAL        10 EMP-COUNT PIC 9(05).

This directive is supported for compatibility with third party interfaces. isCOBOL Database Bridge and c-tree SQL Server don’t currently support it.