# Table Definitions

Generating INI Table Definitions |

INI table definitions may be generated in NOMADS Data Dictionary Maintenance by doing the following steps:

Step | Description
1. | From the Utilities menu, select Generate external and then select INI file contents.
2. | Select a Table Name by clicking the Query button (magnifying glass) beside the input field. This displays a tree view list of table names by Group. For information on creating a filter to locate a specific table name, see Filtering the Table Names Lookup.
3. | Click the Generate button. The table entry is generated and displayed, and the contents may be cut and pasted from the display or exported to a text file.

INI table definitions may also be generated using the following program CALL:

> CALL "*Dict/Defini",contents$,errmsg$,tablename$,ddfpath$

Where:

| contents$ | Returns a string containing the table definition.
| errmsg$ | Returns an error message if problems are encountered during generation, or null if successful.
| tablename$ | Logical name of the table for which the definition is generated.
| ddfpath$ | Path of the providex.ddf file containing the table definition.

In the case of tables with multiple record formats, a table entry is created for each format using the MUSTBE clause to identify the field used as the record type indicator.