Flat Files for Distribution

Just as the USoft repository is distributed in the form of flat files, so are the applications that you develop with it. These flat files can be seen as static copies of the repository, and can easily be transferred to other platforms. Working with these flat files increases performance because of reduced I/O operations, and because of reduced communication with the database.

After generation, there are two or three flat files, each named after the user name with which you logged in, and located in the current directory. These files are described in the table below.

Application Files

Filename	Purpose
<USER>.CON	This file contains the conceptual schema of your application, i.e. the data model and business rules.
<USER>.ESI	This file contains the application resources as defined with the Windows Designer.
<USER>.JOB	This file contains job definitions used by USoft Batch.

Then there may be another resource file, called <USER>. This file is not actually generated by USoft Developer. It is created if you choose to save changes that you have made directly to resource files.

The CON and ESI files hold static copies of your application's repository, and must be generated.

In addition, another two flat files which are generated and need distributing are:

Filename	Purpose
<APPNAME>.msg	This file contains two types of system messages: the messages borrowed from USoft Developer and the messages defined in your application.
<APPNAME>.umg	This file contains the application strings of the local language.