Re: external data area

[Buck Calabro <mcalabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I want one of the fields in a 57 character external data area to be
>numeric.  I can not figure out how to do that in CL.  It seems to be
>insisting on *CHAR only, no numerics.  Can I put numeric values in the
>data area?  say...  put a minus 3500 starting at postion 45
>
>    CHGDTAARA DTAARA(SMPLDA (45 4) VALUE(-3500)
>
>doesn't work.  Any ideas?

You can't substring or concatenate numerics (as far as I know...)  
Doing a CHGDTAARA for 4 characters starting with column 45 is
like doing a substring.  You need to convert your numeric value
to character before trying to change the data area.
CHGDTAARA DTAARA(SMPLDA (45 5) VALUE('-3500') will work.
Written as a CL fragment:
DCL &CHAR *CHAR 5                               
DCL &NUMB *DEC (4 0) -3500                      
CHGVAR &CHAR &NUMB                              
CHGDTAARA  DTAARA(SMPLDA (45 5)) VALUE(&CHAR)

Note that you need to allow room for the sign. 
hth
Buck Calabro
Commsoft
mcalabro@commsoft.net

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