access.temporary.attribute.items

a brief discussion on the use of temporary attribute-defining items in Access sentences.

Attribute items using special attribute names can be specified in an Access sentence without actually existing in either the file dictionary or the master dictionary.

The attribute name is of the form 'Aac', where 'A' is the literal 'A' and 'ac' is the attribute number.

Temporary attribute items are created with a justification code (attribute 9) of lx (left justify and expand display field to fill report). For example, even if neither the master dictionary nor the file dictionary for entity has an attribute-defining item 'a14', a statement such as 'list entity a14' lists attribute 14 in the entity file where 'a14' is the temporary attribute name.

The two reserved numbers 9998 and 9999 may also be specified as part of temporary attribute-defining items. See '*a9998' and '*a9999' for descriptions.