Re: Decimal Place in Character String

[Peter Dow <petercdow@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Joe,

I agree that it makes sense to put them as parms on the conversions, but 
it seems like less of a change to the compiler to change %dec, %dech and 
then use them in the conversions, e.g.

    formatted Value = %CHAR( %DEC( myNumericExpression: wDigits: 
wDecimals) )

    formattedValue = %EDITC( %DEC( myNumericExpression: wDigits: 
wDecimals) : 'L' : *CURSYM);

then you wouldn't need a place holder:

    formattedValue = %EDITC( %DEC( myNumericExpression: wDigits: 
wDecimals): 'L');

Otoh, if they're on the conversions (and let's not forget %EDITW), then 
maybe there's less of a concern about intermediate results.

--
*Peter Dow* /
Dow Software Services, Inc.
909 793-9050
petercdow@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:petercdow@xxxxxxxxx>
pdow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:pdow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

/
On 3/7/2020 7:45 AM, Joe Pluta wrote:
> That makes a lot of sense.  And in that case, maybe it would be better 
> to put the precision as optional parameters on the conversions?
>
>     formattedValue = %CHAR( myNumericExpression: wDigits: wDecimals);
>
> It might take a little more work to shoehorn it into %editc since 
> there's already an optional parameter for currency, but something like 
> this:
>
>     formattedValue = %EDITC( myNumericExpression: 'L': *CURSYM: 
> wDigits: wDecimals);
>
> And if you didn't want a currency symbol, just put the placeholder *PREC:
>
>     formattedValue = %EDITC( myNumericExpression: 'L': *PREC: wDigits: 
> wDecimals);
>
> Because basically you're just trying to resize the field for 
> formatting, so why not do it right in the formatting?
>
>
>
>
> On 3/6/2020 2:27 PM, Barbara Morris wrote:
> > I was going to say it would be impossible for RPG to support 
> > variables for the precision and scale parameters for %DEC and %DECH 
> > because RPG is a compiled language, and it has to know the precision 
> > of numeric operands.
> >
> > But as I was writing, I realized it would actually be possible as 
> > long as the result of the %DEC or %DECH wasn't being used in a 
> > numeric calculation, or anything else where the precision and scale 
> > were needed at compile time.
> >
> > On 2020-03-06 2:55 p.m., Jon Paris wrote:
> > > So write up an RFE asking for that enhancement.
> > >
> > > I suspect many would vote for it.
> > >
> > >
> > > > On Mar 6, 2020, at 12:39 PM, dlclark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > >         Well, I would rather have seen IBM create %DEC and %DECH to 
> > > > accept
> > > > true variable data for the precision and scale parameters. ;-)