Re: Why use variable length fields?

Joe,

I've never used var length fields so this is of interest to me also.

Did you define the field as 100 char minimum?  Have you taken a look at
the statistical mean average of the length actually in use?

What would the actual usage be if 60% if your values could be contained
in 30 char (as a defined minimum) with a maximum of 100?

Could you create a file with 100,000 entries and show us the physical
usage under different percentages of over/under minimum length?

Could you also show us the file definition source?

TIA


Joe Giusto wrote:
> 
> So I set up a test with 2 fields and then do a DSPFFD and here is what I
> get:
> 
> Number of fields  . . . . . . . . . . . . . :      2
> 
>    Record length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :    103
> 
>  Field Level Information
> 
>               Data        Field  Buffer    Buffer        Field    Column
> 
>    Field      Type       Length  Length  Position        Usage    Heading
> 
>    FLD1       CHAR          100     102         1        Both     FLD1
> 
>      Variable length field -- Allocated length :     30
> 
>      Coded Character Set Identifier  . . . . . :     37
> 
>    FLD2       CHAR            1       1       103        Both     FLD2
> 
>      Coded Character Set Identifier  . . . . . :     37
> 
> 
> Bottom
> 
> It looks to me like it is actually taking up more space than if I just left
> FLD1 at 100 without the varlen.
> What am I missing?
>
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