Re: fixed format data entry

[dhandy@xxxxxxxxxxx (Douglas Handy)]

Richie,

>I need to have the hypen protected using only 1 field, but the EDTWRD
>does not work on characters.

As others have mentioned, EDTMSK is designed for this.  But
unfortunately it is designed to only support numeric fields, so it is
not usable in your case.

I only know of one other method of doing what you want -- but I
hesitate to recommend it.  It works by taking advantage of how
multiple display formats can overlay each other using CLRL(*NO), and
retain input fields from an underlaying format.  Basically you first
WRITE a format with two separate input fields (plus the other input
fields), then WRITE a format with CLRL(*NO) and no input fields, but
with a formatted output field spanning the input fields and showing
the "-" in the attribute position between the underlying input fields.
Then you READ the first format.  You cannot use EXFMT.

This technique was published by Midrange Computing in Aug '94, and I
suspect the sample code is on their web site.  But again, the method
is a little unorthodox, so if you use it make sure you document what
you are doing in the source for the sake of future maintenance
programmers.

Doug
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