Re: Date conversion technique, alpha to Numeric

[Booth Martin <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am about to show my stupidity.  Isn't there a QSYSVAL for a system's 
default date format?

But more importantly, please expand on your last comment.  Can't a date 
be passed as a parameter?  Why does one need a DATFMT for that?


Bob Cozzi wrote:
> In database if you use DATFMT you get that result in your queries and SQL.
> In RPG IV, everything is pretty much converted to *ISO format when its brought
> into the program.
> In RPG IV, you can declare a field as any date format you want to have default
> conversion to that format when moving it to a non-date field.
> Today, except for passing parameters, it is true that the usability of the
> DATFMT keyword in defining date fields is nearly worthless.
>
>
> -Bob Cozzi
> www.i5PodCast.com
> Ask your manager to watch i5 TV
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Booth Martin
> Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 12:50 PM
> To: RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries
> Subject: Re: Date conversion technique, alpha to Numeric
>
> Yes, except for the part about defining the file's field as a date type 
>   with a DATFMT.  Why would anyone do that?  That seems to me to be 
> degrading the appeal of a date field.
>
> Joe Pluta wrote:
> > > From: Booth Martin
> > >
> > > Then I misunderstood this sentence: "it's a conversion from the file's
> > > *MDY format to your *ISO program format."
> > When the file is read in from the database, the buffer that is passed to the
> > caller has a date field in it.  That date field is formatted in the manner
> > specified by the DATFMT keyword on the field definition.  However, if you
> > then specify an I-spec for that field with a DIFFERENT format, RPG will then
> > convert the buffer data (which is itself a conversion from the 4-byte
> > internal format) into the format you specified.
> >
> > Make sense?
> >
> > Joe