Causes word boundary alignment of an elementary field.
Format
{ SYNCHRONIZED } [ LEFT ]
{ SYNC } [ RIGHT]
{ } [ ]
1 – Arguments
LEFT
Allows compatibility with DEC COBOL record definitions. DEC
DATATRIEVE accepts the argument but ignores the boundary
alignment specification that the field begin at the left boundary
of the unit of storage the field occupies.
RIGHT
Allows compatibility with DEC COBOL record definitions. DEC
DATATRIEVE accepts the arguments but ignores the boundary
alignment specification that the field end at the right boundary
of the unit of storage the field occupies.
2 – Example
This example shows the difference in storage allocation a SYNC
clause can make. A field of USAGE type LONG occupies four bytes
of storage (the equivalent of one longword):
DTR> DEFINE RECORD NOSYNC_REC USING
DFN> 01 TOP.
DFN> 03 ONE PIC X.
DFN> 03 TWO LONG.
DFN> ;
[Record is 5 bytes long.]
DTR> DEFINE RECORD SYNC_REC USING
DFN> 01 TOP.
DFN> 03 ONE PIC X.
DFN> 03 TWO SYNC RIGHT LONG.
DFN> ;
[Record is 8 bytes long.]
DTR>