You can access and edit existing data sets within an enterprise server region using Data File Editor. Opening a data set in the Data File Editor is different from opening a data file, but once opened in the editor, edit it in the same way as you would a data file.
Data sets are opened by establishing a connection to either the ESCWA service, or directly to the listener of an enterprise server region. The Data Explorer allows you to maintain these connections, and open the resulting catalogs and data sets that you have permission to access.
When connecting to an ESCWA service, you potentially have access to catalogs for all regions within a Micro Focus Directory Server associated with the ESCWA service. Alternatively, you can connect directly to a region (the ESMAC method), to access only the data sets in that region's catalog.
Opening and editing a data set from Data File Editor is subject to the same permissions checks as you would expect if you were connecting directly to the enterprise server region. Further security measures are also taken, such as removing the full pathname of a data set from the File Information tab and the list of recent files.
If an external security manager is in place, you must enter valid logon credentials when attempting to open the data set. When opening and closing a data set, the ENQ and DEQ locking mechanisms are applied accordingly, and if the Audit Manager is running, file operations are recorded in the audit trails.
Disk-based data sets will usually be opened through a Fileshare server running in the region that you connect to. Although, this does not have to be the case if you are opening data sets on a local region, as you can bypass Fileshare and open them directly, which can give faster access. In fact, in this scenario Fileshare does not even need to be configured.
For database-hosted data sets, you must ensure that a database configuration file (as referenced by the MFDBFH_CONFIG environment variable) contains connection details for the region and datastore that houses the desired file. If you are opening the Data File Editor from the IDE, set MFDBFH_CONFIG as a system variable before opening the IDE. See The Database Configuration File for more details on configuring the database configuration file.
To use a structure file with a data set, the structure file must be stored locally, which means that, unlike when opening local data files, Data File Editor cannot auto-select a structure file of the same name and same location if you are connecting to a remote machine; you must select one each time you open the data set.