RE: L-date fields

[Bob Cozzi <BobCozzi@xxxxxxx>]

I don't know. Until they get all that non-date values in date fields 
figured out, I'm using them sparingly. For example, in applications that 
don't require a null date, or a never-ending date. You know, time stamping 
records and stuff like that.  Otherwise, I'd just use the 8 or 9 digit 
decimal value, and move it from and to date fields within RPGIV--storing it 
as YYYYMMDD for sorting purposes.

You know, people say there was never a year zero so 0000 is an invalid 
date. Okay, but I gotta believe that 0 is the value the comes before 1, so 
if 00010101 is a valid date why can't 0 be a null date value? I guess it's 
kind of like when you kid asks you,

"Dad, if the universe goes on forever, what's beyond that?"  We could say 
nothing, but would that be correct?

Bob Cozzi
Bob@RPGIV.COM
www.rpgiv.com
AS/400 Books:  http://www.rpgiv.com/as400Books.html


On Wednesday, September 10, 1997 5:23 PM, boothm@earth.goddard.edu 
[SMTP:boothm@earth.goddard.edu] wrote:
> Some days I just want to whimper.
>
> OK.  I decided to stick my toe back in the water with a date field.  I 
was
> having trouble getting a CL program to display today's date as an 8-digit
> date, with date separators and then recovering that field and verifying
> that it is still some valid date.  CVTDAT works but there's a goto, and
> that upsets the purists.
>
> So I says to myself, I says, "Hey! Then use an L-date field! Just what 
the
> doctor ordered.  Stop busting Carr's chops, try it out."  Well, a screen
> format doesn't have any idea what an L-date field is.  CL doesn't either. 
> Or is there another page in the book that I should be looking at?
>
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> boothm@earth.goddard.edu
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
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