Re: just curious - Number of Parms(numeric zip codes and other crimes against nature)

[Buck Calabro <buck.calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Dow wrote:

>What about using variable length 
>character fields? Set the allocated 
>length to the size used by the majority.
>
>>From: Rob Berendt 
>>
>> And who wants to code 48 character item 
>> numbers in all their files?
>> No one.  So what do we do when we 
>> have a customer who does?  We create
>> a customer/part cross reference.

I thought the very same thing until I thought about all the real estate
eaten up on every display and printer file.  This is one of those places
where green screen is weak compared to GUI.  

(obligatory RPG related comment to stay on topic:)
Fortunately for us RPG folk, there's always Visual Age for RPG or Visual
RPG...   Allows us to create a text box that is only 1 inch long but it can
"scroll" to allow many more than the nominal 10 characters.  Alas there's no
easy solution for printing.

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"We are what we repeatedly do.
 Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." --Aristotle


Billing Concepts Corp., a NASDAQ Listed Company, Symbol: BILL
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