INDARA (Indicator Area) keyword for display files

You use this file-level keyword to remove option and response indicators from the buffer (also called the record area) and to place them in a 99-byte separate indicator area.

This keyword has no parameters.

Specifying INDARA provides the following advantages:

Simplifies COBOL programming when both option and response indicators are used. If the same indicator is used as a response indicator and as an option indicator, both indicators always have the same value, regardless of the order in which they are specified in the DDS.
Assists the RPG programmer using program-described WORKSTN files.

If you specify INDARA, you can add, change, or delete option and response indicators in the DDS and re-create the file without re-creating the high-level language program. This is true because the field locations in the buffer have not changed and therefore the level check data has not changed. However, if the program is to take advantage of the new indicators, it still needs to be changed and re-created.

If you specify INDARA, some high-level languages might require that you specify in your program that a separate indicator area is to be used. See the appropriate high-level language manual.

If you specify INDARA, the LOGINP and LOGOUT keywords do not log response or option indicators when your program sends I/O operations. This is because response and option indicators do not appear in the input or output buffers.

Option indicators are not valid for this keyword.

Example

The following example shows how to specify the INDARA keyword.

|...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7....+....8
00010A                                      INDARA
00020A                                      CF01(01 'End program')
00030A          R PROMPT
00040A            ACTNBR        10   B  2  2
00050A  41                                  ERRMSG('Account number +
00060A                                      not found' 41)
     A

INDARA has been specified; option indicator 41 and response indicators 01 and 41 are removed from the buffer for record format PROMPT and placed in the separate indicator area. Only ACTNBR, a named input/output field, remains in the buffer for record format PROMPT.