HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
COBOL II/XL (HP 32233A)
Specific guidelines for COBOL II/XL, include the following:
* Use the character attributes table of the character set being used to
determine whether a character is alphabetic or numeric. This table
is available through a call to NLINFO itemnum=12. Do not use the
COBOL II/XL ALPHABETIC and NUMERIC class tests to determine this (for
example, IF data-item IS ALPHABETIC).
* Do not use input-output translation by COBOL II/XL from an EBCDIC
character set by means of the ALPHABET-NAME and CODE SET clause. Use
the NLTRANSLATE intrinsic.
* Use the NLS date and time formatting intrinsics for display purposes.
Do not use TIME-OF-DAY and CURRENT-DATE. These items are formatted in
the conventional American way and are unsuitable for use in many
countries.
* Use the COLLATING SEQUENCE IS language-name or the COLLATING SEQUENCE
IS language-ID phrase in the enhanced SORT and MERGE statements to
specify the language name or number whose collating sequence is to be
used. Do not use the COLLATING SEQUENCE IS alphabet-name phrase for
sorting and/or merging in COBOL II/XL.
* In condition-name data descriptions (88-level items), avoid the THRU
option in the VALUE clause (for example, 88 SELECTED-ITEMS VALUE "A"
THRU "F").