Re: SDA, Subfiles, and date fields

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004, Douglas W. Palme wrote:
> I am having trouble creating date fields for subfiles with SDA, I have been
> searching the iseries website looking for an in-depth manual on SDA but
> haven't found anything.

SDA (Screen Design Aid) is part of the Application Development ToolSet 
(ADTS).  You can find the manual for it in the Information Center under:

  Programming -> ADTS -> ADTS for AS/400: Screen Design Aid

I doubt that this manual will answer your question, unfortunately.  I 
don't think SDA understands the date data type.  (The display file will 
understand it, but SDA does not.)

IBM (incorrectly) assumes that nobody who uses modern techniques like 
date fields would use an old editor like SDA.  They feel that it makes no 
sense to continue to enhance SDA, but instead they concentrate on it's 
replacements in WDSc and CODE/400.

> does anyone have any suggestions or know where I can find some better
> information?
>
> I code most of my physical files as date fields with the format as *USA
> and '/' as the seperator, but when it comes to using SDA it seems to lack a
> formatting ability for dates.

If you want to continue to use green screen tools, you can use SDA to 
design your display and put a "10A" field where you want the date to 
appear.

Then, later, edit the DDS source with SEU and change the field to be data 
type L, and DATFMT(*USA).  Re-compile the display with the CRTDSPF 
command.

Or, upgrade to use WDSc and stop using SDA.

(Though, personally I prefer SDA as well)