10/27/80 - New Features of the Lister commands

This info segment contains information about the new features found in the
Lister commands. The new features are:
(1) describe_list implemented
(2) display_list implemented
(3) modify_list implemented
(4) append_list implemented
(5) unique id feature implemented with incompatible change.


describe_list:
The describe_list command/active function gives information about the 
lister file.  The record and field delimiters are given.  The names of
the fields are given.  The total number of records is given, or, if a
selection expression is specified, the total number of records that
match that expression is given.


display_list:
The display_list command/active function displays selected fields from
selected records.


modify_list:
The modify_list command assigns a value to a selected record or 
records.


append_list:
The append_list command appends a record to a lister file.


Unique id feature:
A lister record has associated with it a decimal integer that can be
referenced as :uid in a selection expression, a listform segment or by
display_list.  An incompatible change has been made to the structure 
of the lister file.  The lister file will be converted to the new 
format when a modification is made to the file or when an attempt to 
reference the unique id is made.  In order to affect this change, you
must have w access to the lister file.  If you wish to convert the file 
manually, you can do so by using the create_list command.  If the 
lister file is more current than the listin file or the listin file 
does not exist, use expand_list to recreate the listin.

Example:
	expand_list my_file
	create_list my_file


                                          -----------------------------------------------------------


Historical Background

This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 
as a contribution to computer science knowledge.  
This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL
and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. 
Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970),
renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership
of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture 
for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems 
incorporated Multics principles.
Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., 
as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. .

                                          -----------------------------------------------------------

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies
and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.
    Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS
    All Rights Reserved