HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Field Specifications Screen This screen allows you to specify a field's attributes. A dictionary field specification is a template defining the attributes of a field on a record layout, screen, or report. This screen also allows you to access the data manager specific field attributes screen, where you can set extra attributes for this field that are relevant to a particular data manager. Currently, you can only set HP TurboIMAGE/iX-specific attributes on this screen. Screen ImageField Descriptions Field Spec. Name Enter the name of the field specification (up to 16 characters). Secured To protect this specification from unauthorized modification, enter Y after you have completed the required fields on this screen. The default is N. If you enter Y, this specification can only be modified by a developer who has signed on to the application under the correct development security code. Field Length Enter the length of the field in characters. Repeated Times Enter a number between 1 and 255. The default value in this field is 1. Enter a number other than 1 if the field occurs more than once and all occurrences are to be referenced using the same dictionary name and a subscript. (Refer to chapter 3 for an explanation of subscript referencing.) Minimum Entry Length Enter a number equal to the minimum number of characters acceptable for data in this field. The entry in this field defaults to 1. Edit Code Enter a code defining the type of data in the field. The following table lists the available edit codes and their meanings. Code Meaning X Any printable character. A Alphabetic characters only (A to z, extended characters, or space). U Forced uppercase. Same as X edit code, but shifts all lowercase alphabetic characters to uppercase. K Alphanumeric characters only (A to z, 0 to 9, extended characters, and underscore). N Unsigned number (0 to 9, a period ".", or a comma ","). S Signed number. Same as N edit code, but may include + or -. Q Question. Y, y, N, or n only. Any characters beyond the first character in the field are ignored. D Date field. Must be eight characters long. The date may be either MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY (depending on the system-wide date format) where MM, DD, and YY represent the month, day, and year respectively. T Date field, defaulting to the current date. Storage Type Enter a code defining the way in which the data manager will physically store data in data set fields defined by this field specification. You can only make an entry here if the field is numeric (edit code N or S). The value in this field defaults to a character storage type. The following table lists the storage type codes and their meanings. Storage Type Meaning C Character (number stored in the same format as it appears on a screen) F Four byte, IEEE floating point G Eight byte, IEEE floating point (double precision) I Two byte 2's complement (integer) L Four byte 2's complement (integer) P Packed decimal (BCD, or binary coded decimal) If you use the field specification in a data file or HP ALLBASE/SQL table, and the storage type is not supported by the data manager, HP ALLBASE/4GL will use the most appropriate storage type that is available. For HP TurboIMAGE/iX, a default HP TurboIMAGE/iX type designator is selected by HP ALLBASE/4GL for each field. You can examine the default or change the type designator on the data manager specific attributes screen. Justification Code Enter a code defining the way in which the data is justified within the field on entry or display. The following table lists the justification codes and their meanings. Code Meaning L Data is aligned to the left boundary of the field. Trailing blanks are replaced by the pad character. R Data is aligned to the right boundary of the field. Leading blanks are replaced by the pad character. C Data is centered within the left and right boundaries of the field. N No justification is performed. Decimal Places Enter a number defining the number of decimal places for data in this field. You only need to make an entry here if the field is numeric (edit code N or S), and has a non-integer storage type (storage type codes C, F, G and P). For numeric fields, the value in this field defaults to 0. Blank When Zero This entry only applies to numeric fields (edit code N or S). If you enter Y, the field is displayed as blank on screens if its value is zero. Pad Character Enter a single character to replace all spaces at the beginning and/or end of the field depending on the justification. Validation Range If you enter the name of a validation range in this field, the system tests input data from a screen field against the values in the validation range during data entry. Validation Table If you enter the name of a validation table, the system checks that input data from a screen field matches one of the entries in the validation table during data entry.
NOTE If you enter the names of both a validation range and a validation table on this screen, only data passing validation for both the validation table and the validation range is acceptable as input for this field.
Help Name Enter the name of a help screen. This help screen name is automatically written to the screen fields details screen if you use the dictionary field specification to define the characteristics for a screen field. (Refer to chapter 6, Screen Development.) If the end-user requests help while entering data for the field, HP ALLBASE/4GL displays this help screen. Description Documentation fields. Enter a description of the field specification for documentation purposes. HP ALLBASE/4GL automatically updates the date and time fields to show the date and time of the last modification. Function Keys f1 Records Menu Cancels the current screen and displays the record layout menu. f2 Ranges Cancels the current screen and displays the validation ranges screen. f3 Tables Cancels the current screen and displays the validation tables screen. f4 Data Mgr Attribs. Cancels the current screen and displays the data manager attributes screen. This is the only way to access the data manager attributes screen. Additional Information Mapping to SQL Data Types. The following table shows how the HP ALLBASE/4GL edit codes map onto HP ALLBASE/SQL data types: HP ALLBASE/4GL HP ALLBASE SQL Comments Edit Code Data Type N and S BCD(p,s) p is length, s is scale (precision) D and T CHAR(8) Others CHAR(length) Mapping to HP TurboIMAGE/iX Data Types. For the default mapping of HP ALLBASE/4GL field specification details onto HP TurboIMAGE/iX data item types, refer to Additional Information under the Data Mgr Specific Field Attributes Screen. To see or alter the default settings for a specific field specification that you have defined, press the Data Mgr Attribs. function key from the field specifications screen. This displays the data manager specific field attributes screen. Null Value Support. Reading, detecting, and writing null values in HP ALLBASE/SQL tables are actions supported in HP ALLBASE/4GL. HP ALLBASE/4GL associates an indicator variable with each field in a select list or a record layout used with an HP ALLBASE/SQL table. The status of this variable indicates whether the field contains a null value. The *NULL argument for the logic IF command allows you to test the status of the indicator variable associated with a field. The IF test has the format: IF field_reference *NULL THEN command Null status is transferred from one file record field to another if the value of one field is transferred to the other with the MOVE command. Moving a value from any field type other than a field on a select list or a record layout associated with an HP ALLBASE/SQL table sets the indicator variable to the non-null status. Null status is not preserved if you use the MOVE command to move a file record buffer to another buffer. You can force the indicator variable for a field to the null status with the command: MOVE *NULL field_reference The following table summarizes the way HP ALLBASE/4GL reads and writes null values on input and output. Field Type Action Numeric fields On output Null values are written if the indicator variable is set to null status. Otherwise the actual value is written. On input Null values are always converted to zero or blanks depending on the Blank When Zero value for the destination field. Date Fields On output Null values are written if the indicator variable is set to the null status. Otherwise the actual value of the field is written. On input A zero length string is returned to the date field. Character fields On output Null values are written if the indicator variable is set to null status. Otherwise the actual value in the field is written. This value includes any pad characters in the field, and is the size specified by the length of the dictionary field specification. On input The field is filled with the pad character.
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