RE: Initializing a timestamp field when adding a record

We find this to be exactly the behavior we want for keeping track of time-dependent matters. It's more accurate (precise?), in my view, than executing a TIME opcode or gettimeofday() function, then converting to the right date format, then writing the record. Of course, we don't update it with "last used", purely for ordering various events by time.

So this is a matter of knowing how the system behaves, using this knowledge to whatever advantage you see in it.

I suspect that this behavior (default values for unspecified fields in logicals) has been around for a long time. It's use was news to me, and for us it is effective.

Now my question is, will an update through the logical file update the timestamp as well? I doubt it.

Regards

Vern

At 11:12 PM 1/13/03 -0500, you wrote:

This explanation makes sense; unfortunately, the documentation doesn't.

You don't want the system "helping" you by automatically posting values to
fields you want to keep "empty" (like timestamp indicating a "last use").

A before trigger is an excellent suggestion but my requirement is simple;
adding another line of code to the program is the best solution (it provides
the desired result with minimal code and no confusion).

Doug, thanks...

-reeve