Deploying Data File Changes Today

Today there are several options for deploying data file changes:

• If you have a DDS described physical file you can use command CHGPF to apply the changes.
• If you have a SQL Table you can use the command ALTER TABLE to apply the changes.
• You can create the new file by using the commands CRTPF or CREATE TABLE and then use command CPYF to copy the records from the old file to the new file.

All these options have in common, that the users have to leave the application from the moment you start deploying your changes to the end. That can be a very long time, depending on the amount of records in the file.