Parse Keyword/Value Sets

Another conversion to GnuCOBOL of a function I originally wrote in BASIC and have used for many years.

I have long used the practice of creating files where each record (line) is a keyword and its associated value separated by a colon.  I imagine my earliest use of this was when I was unloading data from files for exporting to a different application or storage system.  But I also frequently use this method for storing run time parameters so that they may be easily edited or examined outside of the program(s) that use them.  If the colon poses a problem for a particular set of data fields, it would be fairly simple to substitute a different character, but since it is only significant in its first occurrence, there is no problem with a colon appearing in the data values.  Several of my applications also required multiple iterations of some of the key pairs, so the keyword may also contain an index value appended to the end of the keyword with a numeric value enclosed in parentheses.  The numeric value of the index argument is returned in its own discrete numeric field.

To install the source programs (along with a sample test data file), and compile them, execute the bash script:  downloads/ParseKWsetup  [md5: c5e240b4a690cfb6e20e08d70ea61b76].  Right click and save the script in the location where you want the source program to reside, then execute it.  It will create two files containing the source programs and one file of test data, then execute the GnuCOBOL compiler to compile them into the run unit for the test program.  The GnuCOBOL compiler must be installed prior to executing the bash script.  

Output from the test/verification program:

jay@Phoenix $ ./testParse Input Record #01 ->Title: 1001 Questions Answered About Trees Keyword..Title Index....+0000 Value....1001 Questions Answered About Trees ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #02 ->SubTitle: Keyword..SubTitle Index....+0000 Value.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #03 ->Author(1): Platt, Rutherford Keyword..Author Index....+0001 Value....Platt, Rutherford ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #04 ->Publisher: Dodd, Mead & Company Keyword..Publisher Index....+0000 Value....Dodd, Mead & Company ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #05 ->Year.Published: 1959 Keyword..Year.Published Index....+0000 Value....1959 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #06 ->Title: Adult Art Psychotherapy Keyword..Title Index....+0000 Value....Adult Art Psychotherapy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #07 ->SubTitle: Issues and Applications Keyword..SubTitle Index....+0000 Value....Issues and Applications ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #08 ->Author(1): Landgarten, Helen B. Keyword..Author Index....+0001 Value....Landgarten, Helen B. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #09 ->Author(2): Lubbers, Darcy Keyword..Author Index....+0002 Value....Lubbers, Darcy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #10 ->Publisher: Brunner/Mazel Keyword..Publisher Index....+0000 Value....Brunner/Mazel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #11 ->Title: Art Therapy, Race and Culture Keyword..Title Index....+0000 Value....Art Therapy, Race and Culture ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #12 ->SubTitle: Keyword..SubTitle Index....+0000 Value.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #13 ->Author(1): Campbell, Jean Keyword..Author Index....+0001 Value....Campbell, Jean ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #14 ->Author(2): Liebmann, Marian Keyword..Author Index....+0002 Value....Liebmann, Marian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #15 ->Author(3): Brooks, Frederica Keyword..Author Index....+0003 Value....Brooks, Frederica ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #16 ->Author(4): Jones, Jenny Keyword..Author Index....+0004 Value....Jones, Jenny ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #17 ->Author(5): Ward, Cathy Keyword..Author Index....+0005 Value....Ward, Cathy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #18 ->Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Keyword..Publisher Index....+0000 Value....Jessica Kingsley ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #19 ->Year.Published: 1999 Keyword..Year.Published Index....+0000 Value....1999 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #20 ->ISBN: 185302578X Keyword..ISBN Index....+0000 Value....185302578X ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #21 ->Accession Year: 2015 Keyword..Accession Year Index....+0000 Value....2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #22 ->Next Accession Number: 0000 Keyword..Next Accession Number Index....+0000 Value....0000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #23 ->Next Title RRN: +00002293 Keyword..Next Title RRN Index....+0000 Value....+00002293 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #24 ->Print Requests Pending: 0000 Keyword..Print Requests Pending Index....+0000 Value....0000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #25 ->Really Big Index(1024): Value is 32 Keyword..Really Big Index Index....+1024 Value....Value is 32 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #26 ->This will be reported as an error RETURN-CODE=+000000008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #27 ->Course Name: INTERIOR DESIGN: COLOR AND LIGHT Keyword..Course Name Index....+0000 Value....INTERIOR DESIGN: COLOR AND LIGHT ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Input Record #28 ->Course Name: HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN Keyword..Course Name Index....+0000 Value....HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN ----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to be able to dynamically call the subprogram move the object module (parseKWsets.so) to a location included in your COB_LIBRARY_PATH.

* Updated September 20, 2019 *  I was tired of looking for and copying the Working-Storage fields for this, and a few other, routines, so I updated the installation script to provide a copybook that may be used in the calling program for this routine.  For easiest use, you should copy the copybook file into the directory that GnuCOBOL searches during compile time for copy books (on my Linux system that is /usr/local/share/gnucobol/copy).  At the same time I modified the original code to utilize a variable length field for the input field, where the length is determined at execution time.

This page was last updated on September 20, 2019.