Re: move vs eval

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Buck Calabro wrote:
 > ...
> Hans suggested using %dec, but I can't construct a more generic replacement
> for MOVE with %dec because
> c                   eval      alph15 = %editc(
> c                                        %dec(
> c                                          dec12:
> c                                          %len(alph15):
> c                                          %decpos(dec12)):
> c                                        'X')
>
> doesn't compile.  I may be missing something, but the compiler is
> complaining that the second and third arguments to %dec "must be a numeric
> literal; a built-in function that has a value known at compile-time; or a
> numeric named constant."  I would have thought the compiler would be able to
> know the length of alph15 and the decimal positions of dec12, given that
> ...

Regarding the coding of the 2nd and 3rd parameters of %DEC, we've
been struggling for years to get them to work right when coding
%LEN() and %DECPOS().  It's a problem that's defeated *all* of us
here in RPG development.  In a nutshell, the problem is that in an
expression, the parameters to %LEN() and %DECPOS() can themselves be
expressions.

The best you can do today is to define named constants defined as
%LEN() and %DECPOS() and use them as the 2nd and 3rd parameters.

Strangely enough, once you have the named constants defined, you can
do things like %DEC(NUM:LENC+3:DECPOS-2).

Cheers!  Hans