Re: RPG - conversion vs re-write

[John Carr <74711.77@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Date:   9/11/97  7:41 AM

RE:     Re: RPG - conversion vs re-write

Booth said
>But John, they don't   see " 00/00/00".   They see  "          "  (blanks,
>nada, nothing) so we don't have to explain anything.   We also don't have
>to do anything.  It just happens that way.  If users start seeing 
>"1/01/0001" popping up everywhere they'll kid the daylights out of us.  If
>we have to start coding separate fields, doing IFGTs, and setting up work
>fields we won't have gained a single advantage. 
>
>btw, I apologise to everyone for carrying this on.  It really is tilting
>at windmills, and I should have just let it go.
>

on 09/10/97 at 06:42 PM, John Carr <74711.77@compuserve.com> said:

"Hey everybody, when you see a 00/00/00 in actual ship date, it means we

 don't know. Now you will see a 0001-01-01, it means we still don't know.

Booth

No,  You missed my point.  You DO have an unspoken agreement with your 
users, it's;  "When you see blanks it means Blah Blah Blah" (the converse
I guess is    "When you see 999999 it means Yada Yada Yada")
That is instead of, (how did you say it)    Nada Nada Nada?

BTW are you using a 'Z' EDTCDE to get the "Blank" effect?  I thought not
using 'Y' EDTCDE on a date was against the law?

So do the compare and set on an *IN to do a DSPATR(ND) if it's 
0001-01-01.   In other programs no one would think it was so odd
(and indeed alot of programmers would do this routinely) to 
set on a *IN to do a DSPATR(BL) or DSPATR(WHT) if an Customer
Order was past due or something.  It's not hard work.

End of tilting for now.

P.S. We still have to do this type of thing until they give us Dates in
DDS.  Small price still for the benefit.

John Carr
Ain't it great when words come together?

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