%Trim dilemma

In the scenario presented if the field was all blanks & you test using
%trim() then the comparison value will be null. 


Thanks,
Tommy Holden


-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ellsberry, Steve
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 12:45 PM
To: 'RPG List'
Subject: **SPAM** %Trim dilemma

Hey guys,
 
Maybe someone can explain this one to me.  
 
>From the statements below you can see that WSSIMN is defined as 20
bytes
alpha. When the program using this field runs and if WSSIMN is blank the
statement tests as true and all statements within the if group are
executed.
The idea behind the statement is to allow a "dummy" serial number that
equals '99999999999999999999' to be used for internal testing.
Obviously
the developer can get around it by testing for <> to blank prior to the
%Trim test but my concern is we may have other programs in the field
that
are doing the same thing. 
 
Any ideas on why this would test true if Wssimn is blank? If %TRIM
removes
leading and trailing blanks and if the entire field is blank, what's
being
compared? 
 
 
D  WSSIMN                        20A

 
C          If      %Trim(Wssimn) = *All'9'