Re: [EXTERNAL] RE: File having an array using new free form

Personally, if I understand Dave's solution correctly, I like his better.
With the solution you're using, you are relying on field Camtday01 starting
in position 97 forever. What happens if you ever change the length of a
field in this record before Camtday01? The program will recompile just
fine, but will likely bomb once you run it because it is expecting your
array to start in position 97 but it doesn't anymore. If you're really
unlucky, it won't bomb, but will give bad results that you might not
recognize until it's too late.

With Dave's solution, again if I understand it correctly, you don't have to
rely on Camtday01 starting in position 97. Instead, it will use the address
of Camtday01 as the starting point, no matter where it is actually located
in the record.

- Dan

On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 2:36 PM, Alan Shore <ashore@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

WOWWWWW
Thanks Birgitta - I believe I have it
Well - I mean - there are no compile errors

OMG - that was a struggle

This is what I ended up with


I have the external file defined

dcl-f Chnlanalp usage(*output:*update) keyed prefix('CHA.');

Then it is qualified later

dcl-ds CHA Extname('CHNLANALP') qualified;
Arr Like(CHA.Camtday01) Dim(32) Pos(97);
end-ds;

Where the field Camtday01 starts in position 97 in the record

The proof of the pudding will be in the testing

Fingers (and anything else) crossed

Appreciate all the responses