Application data is stored in flat files or in databases. Flat files are made up of records, and the records are made up of fields that hold data. Databases are made up of tables, and the tables are made up of column entries, or fields, that hold data.
A record, or table, is a collection of data items arranged for processing by a program. A record can have a fixed length or a variable length and typically contains the length information.
To interpret application data, ECMap needs to know the definitions of all the records in a file. Record definitions describe the fields in each kind of record so that the program can understand and use the data in the fields.
Record definitions can be entered manually, or imported from an external source as described in Chapter 7, “Importing Definitions”.
