ISO Dates

 >> 1.  If you define a date with type L on the screen.  This field may not
be left blank and the users must enter 0001-01-01.

Not true - in the same release (V4R2) that Rochester added L types to display
files they also added the MAPVAL keyword.  Adding MAPVAL(('00001-01-01' *BLANK))
to the filed definition will give you what you want and avoid the users having
to see the low value on the screen.  MAPVAL will convert both on input and
output.

Also you might want to note that just because you store your dates in *ISO
doesn't mean you have to display them that way.  Adding a DATFMT(*USA) to the
display DDS for example will cause the format to be modified to MM-DD-YYYY on
output.  Dates within the 1940 - 2039 window can even be reformatted to *MDY or
other two digit date values.

2.  Doing a cpyf if the field is blank, it is initialized to the current date.

Only if you fail to specify a default value for the date on the file (sorry -
can't recall the keyword). Current date is only used when you don't tell it
anything else to use.


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