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Hi Barbara,

Actually, the help for the ALWNULL parm on CRTBNDRPG command leaves out the word "only"; i.e. it doesn't say what it will do for program-described files. But that's just me nitpicking -- since it doesn't say what it does, I shouldn't expect it to do anything.

You said "The current behaviour may seem like a bug for an application that wants to behave like DSPPFM; but it is a feature for an application that was never intended to work if a record had a null-valued field." My feeling is that the application that wants an error when a null value is encountered can just use ALWNULL(*NO); the application that wants to behave like DSPPFM (mine!) should be able to specify ALWNULL(*INPUTONLY).

Was Chuck Pence's explanation of what's going on correct? Is it just that the open for a program-described file is not requesting ALWNULL(*INPUTONLY) for that file?

*Peter Dow* /
Dow Software Services, Inc.
909 793-9050
pdow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:pdow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> /

Barbara Morris wrote:
Peter Dow (ML) wrote:
If I understand what you're saying, it's the RPG compiler that is not passing the ALWNULL() request to the LIC database code when it's opening a program-described file. Barbara, if you're listening, is this what's going on?


Yes, only externally-described files can be opened by RPG to handle null-valued fields. I think the RPG compiler is working as designed, since the help for ALWNULL explicitly says that the ALWNULL parameter only applies to externally described files.

Even if "externally described file" could be interpreted in some sense other than the normal RPG sense of 'E' in the F spec, the actual meaning of ALWNULL(*YES or *INPUTONLY) has been well established since V2R1 when the ALWNULL parameter was added to the CRTRPGPGM command. That meaning cannot be extended to apply to program-described files without some new syntax to allow the RPG programmer to request it. The current behaviour may seem like a bug for an application that wants to behave like DSPPFM; but it is a feature for an application that was never intended to work if a record had a null-valued field.


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