When the Automation Engine is installed, one of the steps is loading initial data into the AE database. This file is usually called something like uc_ini.txt. The initial data file includes about one thousand AE objects that are required by the system to operate. The file format is very similar to the transport case file format. It is not officially documented by CA, but it has been reverse-engineered and partly documented by MichaelLowry. This document is intended to be a collaborative effort to more fully document the file format, filling in missing pieces and elaborating on important details. If you are interested in contributing, please contact one of the authorized editors.
Overall structure
The initial data file format consists of many records. Each record occupies a single line in the transport case file. The record type is indicated by the first character of the line. There are five different record types. Lines beginning with a semicolon (;) are comments, and are ignored.
Record types
| Record type | Description |
|---|
| V | File & version information |
| T | Table name |
| C | Table column definition |
| F | Table field data |
| R | End of group of data fields |
| ; | Comment |
Unlike the transport case file format, the initial data file format does not separate table descriptions from table content at the bottom. Instead, both appear together. In the initial data format, the records containing the data of a table appear immediately after the records describing the structure of that table.
The V record
All transport case files begin with a single V record. This record encodes basic information about the file and the system whence it originates.
V08 12.3 INITIAL 006
Fields of record type V
| Description | Position | Length | Example |
|---|
| Record type | 1 | 1 | V |
| File version | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| System version | 5 | 10 | 12.3 |
| File type | 15 | 21 | INITIAL |
| Unknown | 66 | ? | 006 |
T records
T records indicate the table to which a subsequent set of C and F records pertains.
TABLOB
Fields of record type T
| Description | Position | Length | Example |
|---|
| Record type | 1 | 1 | T |
| Table name | 2 | ? | ABLOB |
C records
C records describe the columns in a particular table.
C001ABLOB_AH_Idnr 300004
Fields of record type C
| Description | Position | Length | Example |
|---|
| Record type | 1 | 1 | C |
| Column number | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Column name | 5 | 15 | ABLOB_AH_Idnr |
| Column data type | 23 | 1 | 3 |
| Column data length | 24 | 5 | 4 |
The column numbers correspond to the order of columns in the DB schema documentation. There are several column data types.
Column data types
| Data type | Description |
|---|
| A | CLOB |
| B | ? |
| C | Long Integer |
| D | XML |
| 0 | Binary |
| 1 | Byte |
| 2 | Integer |
| 3 | Long Integer |
| 4 | Long Integer, counter |
| 5 | Date/Time |
| 6 | Unknown (not yet encountered) |
| 7 | Text |
| 8 | ? |
| 9 | Byte |
For the Memo data types, there is usually more information about the data type in the Description field of the DB schema documentation for the corresponding table.
F records
F records contain the data for each field in a particular table.
F004CUC0.DEV.TEST#1_1.JOBP
Fields of record type F
| Description | Position | Length | Example |
|---|
| Record type | 1 | 1 | F |
| Field number | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Field data type | 5 | 1 | C |
| Field data | 6 | 1 | UC0.DEV.TEST#1_1.JOBP |
The field numbers correspond to the column numbers of the corresponding tables, and the order of columns in the DB schema documentation.
There are several field data types.
Field data types
| Data type | Description |
|---|
| - | Integer |
| + | Integer |
| 0 | Byte |
| 2 | Date/Time |
| C | String |
| M | String with byte count. Can contain multiple parts. |
There may be additional types too. The date/time values in F***2 fields begin with the numeral 2 in byte 5.
Some fields of type C can contain multiple labeled parts. E.g., JBA_Rest is used to store additional attributes for z/OS jobs.
F records (data type M)
F records with data type M have an additional data length field that indicates the length of the data to follow.
F005M000000010key1value1
Fields of record type F, data type M
| Description | Position | Length | Example |
|---|
| Record type | 1 | 1 | F |
| Field number | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Field data type | 5 | 1 | M |
| Field data length | 6 | 9 | 10 |
| Field data | 15 | variable (10 in this case) | key1value1 |
M fields often contain multiple parts separated by ^K (control-K) characters. These fields sometimes include embedded XML.
R records
A single R record terminates a group of F records corresponding to a single row in a table (which table is indicated in the most recent preceding T record). If an R record is followed immediately by another F record, this indicates the beginning of a new row of data for the same table. If an R record is followed immediately by a T record, this indicates the beginning of records for a different table.
Differences from transport case format
Unlike the transport case file format, the initial data file format does not have O records. Instead, initial data files contain the complete set of OH and OFS records that define the folder locations of initial data objects.
Unlike the transport case file format, the initial data file format has no terminating S record.