Using NS3000/iX Network Services (36920-90008)

70 Chapter 5
Network File Transfer
File Copying Formats
When a file is copied using Interchange Format, it is translated into
Interchange Format at the source system before it is copied to the
target system. At the target system, it is mapped from Interchange
Format into the target system’s file format. Interchange Format’s
standard file attributes enable the target computer to map the source
file into a target file with attributes that match the source file’s as
closely as possible.
You can use the options that invoke Interchange Format to give a target
file a different set of attributes from those that characterized the source
file from which it was copied, even if the files are being transferred
between computer systems of the same type. For example, by copying a
file composed of variable length records and using the FIX option, you
can create a file containing the same information, but formatted into
fixed-length records. Other options (described in detail later in this
chapter) can be used to create duplicate files that differ from their
source files in record size, length, type of data and other file
characteristics.
Data Interpretation
Although the purpose of Interchange Format is to create an accessible
target file on different kinds of systems, it does not ensure that the
target file will be usable. This is because Interchange Format changes a
file’s attributes only; it does not perform data interpretation.
Interchange Format can create an unusable target file if the target
system has a different representation for the data present in the source
file.
For example, if a file that contains floating point numbers is copied to a
different kind of computer, there is no guarantee that the target node
will be able to read the data as floating point. Consequently, the
usability of your target files must be determined by the applications
that use them.