Re: BIFs requiring constants = frustrating

[Scott Klement <rpg400-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

They're never going to change the way %DEC() works because %DEC creates 
a variable (under the covers) at compile-time.  The system needs to what 
the size of the variable is at compile-time -- otherwise it'd have to 
compile a bit of your program at run-time, and that just isn't practical.

They might see your request and create a new BIF that's designed to 
format numbers in a more versatile way, however.

Though I wonder why you just don't write one yourself (it's not hard). 
Or use sprintf() to format your number...   not that that would be quite 
as nice as having it built-in to RPG, but it'd get you past this hurdle 
a lot quicker.


On 4/7/2010 8:44 AM, Kurt Anderson wrote:
> Vern, I had one all written up about %dec because I was had a need to
> round the decimal precision based on a variable.  But foolishly I had
> entered in the requirement data before actually testing (I was going
> off of memory of the BIF).  Then I second guessed myself, and it was
> the end of the day on Friday, and I had no way to "save" the request.
> (In hindsight, yes I did, copy and paste each section to a .txt file
> for the time being.)