Re: DDS specs for RPG INFDS available? plus defining Binary in DDS

[Barbara Morris <bmorris@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dan wrote:
>
> I am currently exasperated trying to key the database INFDS.  The data
> management guide is calling for a binary data type with a length of 4,
> which I've defined in DDS as '4B 0', but this defines a 2-byte field.
> Should binary fields with length = 4 be defined as '10B 0'?
> Should binary fields with length = 2 be defined as ' 5B 0'?
>

The data management guide is giving the length in bytes, while DDS is
giving the length in digits.  For 2-byte binary, use 4B 0.  For 4-byte
binary, use 9B 0.

It's better to define those fields in RPG as integer, not binary, so in
RPG, 10i 0 would be best.  You can't code 10i in DDS, but you can code
EXTBININT(*YES) in your RPG H spec to cause all external binary fields
to be treated as integers in RPG.  Unless you have dependencies in your
code where you need external binary fields to be treated as decimal
fields (converted to/from packed whenever they're used), it's a good
thing to code EXTBININT(*YES) anyway.

The reason it's better is that 9B can't hold all the values that the
4-byte binary fields in the feedback areas can hold, so occasionally
you'll have problems with truncation or overflow.