Re: Easy way to define a DS char subfield the same size as some numericfield?

"Wilt, Charles" wrote:
> 
> I've got a standalone field defined as packed(3,0).
> 
> Is there an easy way to define a DS subfiled as char(3)?
> 
> In other words, given any specific numeric field, how can a define a
> corresponding character field large enough to hold the numeric data
> without having to hardcode the subfield size?
> 

It's possible, but kind of kludgy.  Instead of defining the field
directly, you define it by overlaying an 1-byte array whose dimension is
the size you want.

     D msgDs                 ds
     D    numChar                            
     D      numCharA                       1a    dim(%len(num))
     D                                           overlay(numChar)

   numChar = %editc(num : 'X')

If you might need a sign and/or decimal point, 

     D msgDs                 ds
     D    numChar                            
     D      numCharA                       1a    dim(%len(num))
     D                                           overlay(numChar)
     D                                     2a    overlay(numChar:*next)

   numChar = %char(num)

(In the case of a message, you'd probably want to use concatenation
rather than a data structure; otherwise it wouldn't look nice with a
small value.  "There are 2   pieces of pie")