Re: Techniques for variable field types in a subfile

Paul Cunnane wrote:

>Reading Mark's original message, he 
>wants to be able to input as well as
>display the different values.  
>
>Buck suggested identifying the input 
>type based on the first column -- I 
>would suggest a hidden field.  

That's it brother - keep those ideas flowing!  The more ideas Mark sees, the
better his ultimate choice can be.  Diversity is a Good Thing.

>Of course, testing for numeric data 
>if the field contains currency formatting 
>is tricky.  This can be worked around 
>by writing a small routine to strip the 
>currency symbols and commas, or 
>if you want to get fancier, a little finite 
>state machine to validate the entered value.

A finite state machine has a perfect application here.  If readers aren't
familiar with finite state machines, here are links that are pretty clear.  
http://home.swbell.net/mck9/cobol/tech/fsm.html 
http://www.bsn.ch/contest/valladolid/328.html
http://www.c3.lanl.gov/mega-math/gloss/pattern/dfa.html

You can even play with one (in Java) here:
http://www.belgarath.demon.co.uk/java/fsme.html

News/400 carried several articles: Nov 1988, Sept 1992 (SEARCH), April 1994
(CMPM).

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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