VAX-11 Record Management Services User’s Guide

This document is the VAX-11 Record Management Services User's Guide (Order No. AA-D781C-TE), published by Digital Equipment Corporation in March 1980 for the VAX/VMS V2.0 operating system.

Purpose: The manual aims to provide detailed information and programming examples for efficiently using the capabilities of VAX-11 Record Management Services (RMS). It guides users, primarily VAX-11 MACRO programmers, on how to tailor RMS components and routines for their record management and processing needs.

Key Topics Covered:

• File Organizations and Access Modes: Discusses the three main file organizations (sequential, relative, and indexed) and two record access modes (sequential and random). It helps users determine the best file organization based on their data access and maintenance requirements.
• RMS Structure and Interface: Describes the user control blocks (File Access Blocks - FAB, Record Access Blocks - RAB, Extended Attribute Blocks - XAB, Name Blocks - NAM) used for communication between user programs and RMS routines, and summarizes the essential run-time macro instructions (e.g., $CREATE, $OPEN, $GET, $PUT, $DELETE).
• File Specification: Explains the syntax for specifying files, including network nodes, devices, directories, file names, file types, version numbers, and the use of wild card characters and logical names.
• Practical Implementation: Provides extensive programming examples for creating and processing data record files using both sequential and random access modes with sequential, relative, and indexed file organizations.
• RMS File Analyzer (RMSANLZ): Introduces a utility for inspecting file attributes, index structures, and diagnosing file corruption within RMS files.

The guide is practical, featuring typical programming examples to illustrate concepts and emphasizing efficient use of the system's record management capabilities.