Can we initialize a BDAM file, if yes - how?

[Subhash Chander]

Hi,

I think for writing records into a new BDAM file we have to initialize it, I tried initializing BDAM data set by inserting and deleting records using FILE-AID and executed the program but it fails with SYNAD error.

Can anybody help in knowing how to initialize a BDAM file in general or using FILE-AID?

[Robert Sample]

What language is the program you are attempting to execute? Enterprise COBOL, for example, does not support the use of BDAM files in any way and you MUST use VSAM RRDS instead of BDAM if you are writing Enterprise COBOL code. I believe you can still access BDAM files in HLASM, but I would have to research that in the manual since I am not sure about it.

[Subhash Chander]

I was thinking to use COBOL and did a research and came to know that you're correct. Apart from HLASM, is there no other language to support BDAM?

[Robert Sample]

I believe Enterprise PL/I regional files are BDAM but I cannot test that at this time.