A  record  description  clause  inserts  text  documenting  a  record
  definition into the CDD.

1  –  Syntax Rules

   o  You must use the keyword DESCRIPTION and the text  delimiters  /*
      and  */ to insert one or more lines of text describing the record
      into the DEFINE command.

2  –  Usage Notes

   o  This clause provides a  way  to  associate  text  with  a  record
      description, providing a tool for documenting the sources of data
      and for describing the field structure of a record.   DESCRIPTION
      text  can  also aid in establishing record definition conventions
      and standards.

   o  You can also include comments in a CDDL source file by using  the
      exclamation   point  (!)  as  a  comment  delimiter.   Using  the
      DESCRIPTION clause is preferable to including  comment  lines  in
      the  source  file  because DESCRIPTION text is stored directly in
      the CDD.  CDDL/COPY_LIST copies DESCRIPTION clauses from template
      records,  but  does  not copy comments preceded by an exclamation
      point.  Also, you can display record-level DESCRIPTION text  with
      DMU's   LIST/ITEM=DESCRIPTION   command.    DMU's  EXTRACT/RECORD
      command extracts record- and  field-level  DESCRIPTION  text  but
      does not extract comments preceded by an exclamation point.

3  –  Example

  The  following  example  contains  DESCRIPTION  text  of  the  record
  definition as a whole, and of the elementary field ID.

  DEFINE RECORD CDD$TOP.CORPORATE.EMPLOYEE_LIST
      DESCRIPTION /* This record contains the employee master list,
                    and it is the source from which employee fields
                    in other record descriptions are copied. */.
      EMPLOYEE STRUCTURE.
          /* An employee's ID number is his or her social
          security number. */
          ID                       DATATYPE IS UNSIGNED NUMERIC
                                   SIZE IS 9 DIGITS.
          NAME STRUCTURE.
              LAST_NAME            DATATYPE IS TEXT
                                   SIZE IS 15 CHARACTERS.
              FIRST_NAME           DATATYPE IS TEXT
                                   SIZE IS 10 CHARACTERS.
              MIDDLE_INITIAL       DATATYPE IS TEXT
                                   SIZE IS 1 CHARACTER.
          END NAME STRUCTURE.
          ADDRESS                  COPY FROM
                                   CDD$TOP.CORPORATE.ADDRESS_RECORD.
          DEPT_CODE                DATATYPE IS UNSIGNED NUMERIC
                                   SIZE IS 3 DIGITS.
      END EMPLOYEE STRUCTURE.
  END EMPLOYEE_LIST RECORD.