jQL Sentence General Rules

Entering a Sentence

The sentence is entered at the TCL prompt (:) or the select prompt (>) in an account which contains a pointer to the referenced file. If a verb such as SELECT or GET-LIST supplies an item, it displays the select prompt.

The following rules apply when entering a sentence:

1. The sentence is entered on one command line and is completed when selecting .
2. It must begin with a verb, defined in the MASTER DICTIONARY followed by a space.
3. It must contain a file name, which is defined within the account from, which the sentence is entered
4. Unless otherwise stated, one or more spaces should separate each element.

Line Continuation

When you are typing words in response to the TCL prompt the system allows you to enter up to 240 characters before it performs an automatic linefeed. You can extend a line by entering the line continuation characters.To enter the continuation sequence hold down the CTRL key and press the underscore key (_), which may require you to hold down the shift key. Follow this combination immediately with the RETURN key.
Procedure :

1. Before the end of the 240 characters, enter CTRL+- and then press RETURN
2. Type the next part of the sentence. If a space is required at this point be sure to press the space bar either before or after step
3. If more than 240 characters are required repeat step
4. At the completion of the sentence press RETURN.

Example

If a sentence exceeds 240 characters (see below), the line continuation sequence (CTRL+- and RETURN) breaks the sentence into two parts.

LIST GUEST WITH INVOICE-CODE "15" AND WITH EACH INVOICE-CODE # "2" BREAK-ON LAST-NAME TOTAL INVOICE CTRL+- RETURN
GRAND-TOAL "AMOUNT DUE 'U' " DET-SUPP HDR-SUPP RETURN

Action by the System

Upon completion of the sentence, the system checks with the MASTER dictionary for a definition of the verb, which if defined, the system checks the file name and the syntax of the sentence. If you enter an invalid verb or file name or the syntax is incorrect, or have exceeded the limitations the system displays an error message.

Generating jQL Reports

You can display jQL reports at a terminal or send to a printer by using the LIST or SORT verb (and other verbs). The default output device receives the reports, which could be a printer (or other currently assigned spooler device) by adding LPTR or option p.

Columnar or Non-columnar format

If the report will fit within the page width of the output device, it is output as a series of columns. However, if the report would require more than the current page width to be output in columns, it is output as a series of lines (known as non-columnar format).