This chapter describes several special file processing issues. Included are: transaction management; client/server implementation with remote file access services; generation of data dictionaries (also known as extended file descriptors or XFDs); and translation of international character sets between machines that use different codes for the same characters. General file handling capabilities are covered in section 6.1, "Handling Files."
ACUCOBOL-GT extends standard COBOL to provide a complete transaction management system. A transaction is a group of related file operations that are treated as an indivisible unit. The purpose of defining such transactions is to ensure that related files can be restored to a consistent state when errors occur.