Re: %DEC

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Marco Facchinetti wrote:
> Maybe it's just me not really understanding the meaning of
> "known at compile-time".
>
> i.e.:
> c       eval      xxutente =%EDITC(%DEC(xxutente:          
> c                 %len(xxutente):0):'Z')                   
> c*      eval      xxutente =%EDITC(%DEC(xxutente:6:0):'Z') 
>
> The compiler issue an RNF0328 stating that the second
> parameter of %DEC is not valid.
> The commented line, of course, is working but is in "fixed"
> format and not self adapting as the first one.
>
> I'm at V5R2 and this is from the manual:
>
> %DEC converts the value of the numeric expression to
> decimal (packed) format with precision digits and decimal
> places decimal positions. The precision and decimal places
> must be numeric literals, named constants that represent
> numeric literals, or built-in functions with a numeric
> value known at compile-time. 
>
> xxutente is a field from a ds so why the compiler
> complains?

%LEN() is a built-in function that returns a value that is generally 
not known at compile-time. In some particular cases, the value is a 
particular constant value. But since %LEN() can return different 
values for certain types of operands, it is considered to not have a 
"compile-time value". For example, if XXUTENTE is defined as varying 
length character, the value can never be known at compile-time.

In this case, if XXUTENTE is a fixed length character field, you can 
use %SIZE() instead of %LEN() since one character occupies one byte:

   xxutente = %EDITC(%DEC(xxutente:%size(xxutente):0):'Z');

But what exactly are you trying to do here? It appears you are 
converting a character string representing some signed number and 
converting it to a right adjusted character string repesenting the 
absolute value of the number and excluding digits to the right of 
the decimal point. A more concise way of achieving that is:

   evalr xxutente = %char(%abs(%int(xxutente)));

Cheers! Hans