Re: RPGLE/400: Zoned Field becomes Packed !

>Mario Cardinale:
> i've a zoned field in a file, but when i compile the RPGLE that field
> becomes packed. Why ?

First: The file field stays zoned. If you have an external described file,
fields remain unchanged.

But: Packed is the preferred format for decimals. Even when you LIKE DEFINE
a field to a zoned one, it will be packed.

In such a case, you can force it to be zoned by coding an external described
data structure which uses the format of the file.

for example:

File MASTER has a zoned field AMOUNT.

Instead of

D XXAMOUNT       S                   LIKE(AMOUNT)

which leads to a zoned XXAMOUNT, you can use

D XXMASTER    E DS                EXTNAME(MASTER)

which will lead to a zoned XXAMOUNT and a lot of 7031-Warnings in the
compile listing, but who cares in these days.

The last way would be the explicit definition of a zoned field.

As a conclusion, i try to avoid zoned decimal fields.

This is a FAQ. If you are interested in more details, search the archives at
www.midrange.com , it was in the newsgroup too, so you can find it at
http://www.deja.com too.

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