RE: Null Capable Fields

[Buck Calabro <mcalabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Booth,
I have to disagree.  Losing %nullind will indeed require "flying a
traditional RPG flag."  Can you say "indicator?"  How would you feel if you
lost all the attributes of a printer file when you did a CRTDUPOBJ - TEXT,
MAXRCDS, OUTQ, FORMTYPE, PAGESIZE and so on?  It'd be a real pain to have to
manually re-create all the attributes of a file every time you wanted a new
copy.  I think of LIKE() (or *LIKE DEFN) as a CRTDUPOBJ for fields.  Losing
%nullind means that I have extra work to do that the compiler could
profitably have done for me.  Like indicators and GOTO used to do before we
had IF.

The hassle is that when we hire GUI guys (Delphi, Visual whatever) they use
SQL to create tables.  Tables with ALWNULL.  Since we have to write the
stored procedures to deal with these tables, we need to have good NULL
support.  Nothing detracts from the AS/400's reputation more than telling a
PC guy that "we can't do that."  It's a business machine - shouldn't it be
able to do things that businesses want?

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
mailto:Buck.Calabro@aptissoftware.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: boothm@earth.goddard.edu 
> Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 6:56 PM
> To:   RPG400-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      RE: Null Capable Fields
> 
> Now I am glad I asked the question; it really does amount to a request to 
> detect and/or restore virginity.  I can see useful reasons for it, but in 
> the example you've shown I came away thinking the real problem is that the
> 
> decision is being removed from the point of original information.  When 
> you learn the field is null, and know you need the knowledge later on, fly
> 
> a traditional RPG flag.  There's no reason to lug nulls all around the 
> C-specs and compound the lives of those maintenance programmers who come 
> after us, is there? 
> 
+---
| This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---