RE: REXX and dates from commands

Thanks Simon, but this does not fully address the issue.

By using *JOB as the from-format on CVTDAT, I'm forcing users to adhere to a
stricter date format than OS/400 allows. For a job date format of *MDY,
users can successfully present *MDY, *MDY/, *MDYY, *MDYY/ formatted dates to
the prompter; all four date formats are passed through to the CPP.

On my system, the job date format is *MDY.

Command:

Cmd prompt('Pass a date')
Parm kwd(mydate) type(*date) min(1) prompt('Date')


CPP (CLP):

Pgm parm(&mydate)
Dcl var(&mydate) type(*char) len(7)
Dmpclpgm
Endpgm


CPP (REXX):

Address command
Parse arg 'MYDATE(' mydate ')'
Cymddate = 'xxxxxxx'
"cvtdat date("mydate") tovar(&cymddate)",
   "fromfmt(*job) tofmt(*cymd) tosep(*none)"
If 'xxxxxxx' = cymddate | '0' <> rc then,
   "sndpgmmsg msg('Date conversion error.')"
Say mydate "," cymddate
Exit(0)


Results (job date format *MDY, input for 4 October 2005):

Command      CLP       REXX
100405       1051004   100405 , 1051004
10/04/05     1051004   '10/04/05' , 1051004
10042005     1051004   10042005 , xxxxxxx     (CPF0553 received)
10/04/2005   1051004   '10/04/2005' , xxxxxxx     (CPF0553 received)


CPF0553: Date contains too many or too few numeric characters.

Program-based CPPs receive more help from the system in terms of parameter
conversion than REXX-based CPPs.

The most expedient way to resolve this problem and be fair to my users is to
use a command/CL combination.

Thanks,
Loyd

Loyd Goodbar
Senior programmer/analyst
BorgWarner
E/TS Water Valley
662-473-5713
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Simon Coulter
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 23:50
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: REXX and dates from commands



So very simple Rexx code can be used to handle the date regardless of 
input format. For example:


This will work regardless of the job date format.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.