Re: Varying length field issue

[Raul A Jager <raul@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Insted of putting "Blank" in a field, it may be better to "clear 
PrintInfo"  That should work always, and I find it more "Clear".
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jeff Crosby wrote:

> I've got a program where I build part of the print line in a field called
> PrintInfo.  I decided to make this a Varying field (which I have used
> before) to avoid a lot of %Trim.  PrintInfo could be blank on the printout,
> or it could have any number of different possibilities in it.
>
> The output wasn't coming out right.  What I found is, if a Varying length
> field is blank (because I cleared it first), appending to it with an Eval
> does not work:
>
> C                   Eval      PrintInfo = *Blanks 
> * If there was a PO number, add that verbeage                  
> C                   If        MQCSPO <> *Blanks                 
> C                   Eval      PrintInfo = PrintInfo + ' PO#=' + 
> C                                         %Trim(MQCSPO)         
> C                   Endif                                       
>
> Even though the second Eval statement is executed, PrintInfo is still blanks
> afterward.  I temporarily put an "Eval PrintInfo = '.'" spec in there so the
> field wasn't empty and then it works fine.
>
> Can someone confirm the same behavior on another iSeries, namely that
> appending data to an empty Varying length field fails?  If this is the
> expected behavior, I'll have to try some other ways to do it.  It doesn't
> make common sense for me to check every time whether the field is blank
> before appending.
>
>