HP 3000 Manuals

HP ALLBASE/4GL Developer Administration Manual

System Definition 

The various system definition facilities are accessible from the system
definition screen.  To display this screen, select the System Definition 
option on the system-wide specifications menu.

Most likely, you will only need to use the system definition facilities
when you're setting up HP ALLBASE/4GL for the first time.  Even then, you
will only need to change these specifications if the released defaults
don't suit your particular needs.


            

This screen has two functional areas.  The top group of fields allow you
to define the date format, decimal radix character, and the currency
symbol.  The last field allows you to enter the name of the default MPE
command interpreter program.

The following sections describe the meanings of these fields and the
acceptable entries for them.  When you've completed your entries for
these fields, press the  Commit Data  function key to confirm your
entries and terminate the screen.

System-wide Values 

Date Format.     

HP ALLBASE/4GL can present dates on reports and screens in either US or
European date format.  The US date format is MM/DD/YY, and the European
date format is DD/MM/YY. In both cases MM represents the month, DD the
day, and YY the year.  The system-wide date format applies to all
applications on the system.

To set the date format for the system, enter either U or E in the U.S. or 
European field on this screen.

You can also define the separator character in dates as they are
displayed on screens or printed on reports.  Typical examples are / or -.
Enter the separator character you require in the Separator Character 
field.


NOTE  HP ALLBASE/4GL stores dates internally in the YY/MM/DD form,
      regardless of the system-wide date specification.  The system-wide
      date format only controls the way HP ALLBASE/4GL displays dates on
      screens or reports, and the way data is accepted into screen fields
      with date type edit codes.


Decimal Number Format.     

The entry in the Decimal Radix Character field defines how HP ALLBASE/4GL
prints decimal numbers on reports.  The system provides two options:  the
English language number format n,nnn.nn and the European number format
n.nnn,nn.

Enter .  in the Decimal Radix Character field to set the system to
English number format or enter , to set the system to European number
format.

This entry defines the way HP ALLBASE/4GL presents numbers on reports if
the application developer has specified that numbers contain numeric
punctuation.

Currency Symbol.     

HP ALLBASE/4GL allows you to define the currency symbol that is printed
before money amounts on reports.  The entry in the Currency Float Symbol 
field on this screen defines the system-wide currency symbol.

The default symbol is $.  To change the symbol, enter the new symbol into
this field.  You can enter any printable character in this field.

This entry defines the way HP ALLBASE/4GL presents money amounts on
reports if the application developer has specified that the amount is
printed with the currency float symbol.

Operating System Environment 

The last field on the system specifications screen allows you to define
the default MPE/iX command interpreter for the HP ALLBASE/4GL system.

MPE/iX Command Interpreter.     

The entry in this field defines the default MPE/iX command interpreter
program that is executed if the user presses the  Op.  System  function
key.

Users can execute a specific program by setting the MPE/iX variable HP4CI
to the name of a program.  (Users can also specify the name of a command
interpreter program by setting the MPE/iX variable SHELL.) In this case,
MPE/iX executes the program defined by this variable whenever the user
presses the  Op.  System  function key.  The system only calls the
command interpreter you specify on this screen if the HP4CI (or SHELL)
variable is not set.

If you're not sure what to enter in this field, leave it as CI.PUB.SYS 
(the released default).  This is the standard MPE/iX command interpreter,
and you can be confident that it will be available on your system.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation