The "info" function of vutil returns some basic information about Vision indexed files. The command syntax is:
vutil -info [ -kpxq ] [ files ]
If no files are specified on the command line, then vutil reads file names from the standard input. You have several options available to use when requesting file information with "-info":
-p This option causes vutil to pause between files and prompt the user for a "return" key. Otherwise, all the reports are run together.
-k This option prints full details about each key, including the exact layout of a multi-segment, or split, key. Each segment is expressed as a pair of numbers--segment size (sz) and the offset from the beginning of the record (of).
-q This option causes vutil to exit (with status 99) if user interaction is required.
-x This option causes vutil to report additional (extended) information.
The basic information provided by the "info" function consists of:
If you request extended information with the "-x" option, you will also see:
The "tree height" is the number of levels in the B-tree and is directly related to how efficient the file is. If the maximum number exceeds four or five, then the file may benefit from rebuilding with a larger blocking factor (see "Rebuilding Files" below).
A value of note is the "user count". This value starts at zero, and is incremented each time the file is opened for I/O. This number is decremented when the file is subsequently closed. Under normal circumstances, the user count indicates the number of users who are currently updating the file. Should runcbl die suddenly, then this number will not be decremented. Thus, if the user counter is ever non-zero when there are no users active, then it indicates a sudden program failure and suggests that corrective action may need to be taken. At the very least, the file should be checked for integrity, but depending on the program that died, perhaps more significant action should be taken.
Basically a non-zero user count indicates that someone knowledgeable about the system should intervene and ensure that everything is okay. This can be used as an early warning system to head off some problems before they surface in a more serious form. Note that under normal operation, a COBOL coding error will not cause this condition to occur, because runcbl will usually close all of its files when it detects an error.