Easytrieve Guide for Mainframe Programmers (4 of 20)

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DECIMAL POSITIONS

For numeric data items, you can indicate the number of decimal places (0 – 18) by adding the appropriate numeric value AFTER the data format value.

The use of the DECIMAL indicator also informs EZT+ that this data item will be QUANTIFIED. This tells the EZT+ job that the accumulated value for the designated data item will be automatically maintained and printed by EZT+ at programmer defined control breaks. More will be said regarding this in the REPORT ACTIVITY section on control breaks.

The use of the DECIMAL indicator also guarantees that a sign will be generated for NEGATIVE values.

The addition of the numeric entry AFTER the definition of the PAY-NET field accomplishes several things for the EZT+ programmer . . . . . . .

it defines the PAY-NET field as having two (2) decimal fields
it makes the data item QUANTITATIVE
it will insure that a sign will be generated when it is appropriate

FILE file-name

NAME 17 33 A

ADDRESS 37 33 A

PAY-NET 90 4 P 2

SAMPLE OF A FIELD DEFINITION

A typical field definition looks like this:

GROSS – PAY 94 4 P 2

. . . . .

field name . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .

starting location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . .

field length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. .

type (packed decimal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

number of decimals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

REDEFINITION OF A FIELD NAME

Redefinition can occur in a FILE entry or in the Working Storage section of your EZT+ program.

Explicit redefinition is done within the FILE ENTRY of the FIELD NAME definition

- - - - > FILE ENTRY

DATE-OF-BIRTH 103 6 N

MONTH 103 2 N

DAY 105 2 N

YEAR 107 2 N

The redefinition in the FILE ENTRY is similar to the IMPLIED redefinition in a COBOL program’s FILE SECTION entry. Since the DATE-OF-BIRTH entry has a specific starting location (103), the REDEFINED fields will be coded AFTER the original entry and will use the same storage locations as the original.

- - - - -> WORKING STORAGE

W-HOLD-STA W 8 N

STATE W-HOLD-STA 2 N

TERR W-HOLD-STA +2 2 N

AGENCY W-HOLD-STA +2 4 N

With a Working-Storage item there is NO specific starting location. Therefore, you use RELATIVE starting locations as well as QUALIFIED data names to redefine the Working Storage entry.

   When QUALIFYING the redefined data item you simply add the name of the object of the redefine AFTER the redefined entry.

   The first redefined entry has NO relative starting location and the EZT+ program assumes that it will start at the beginning of the Working Storage item it is redefining.

   Subsequent redefined entries have RELATIVE starting locations which are the sum of ALL previous record lengths.

EDIT MASK

   An edit Mask is a pattern specifying how numeric data is to be printed.                  (Alphanumeric fields cannot have masks attached).

   The edit MASK allows you to format dollar signs (or other currency signs),            asterisks, dashes, and parentheses, into your output.

   An edit mask is created by using combinations of the following characters:

9 Formats digits.

Z Suppresses leading zeroes.

Replaces leading zeroes with asterisk.

Prints a minus sign prior to first non-zero digit of a negative number.

$ Prints a currency symbol prior to the first non-zero digit.

Each digit in the field must be designated in the mask. This includes PACKED fields. A data-item that is 9 (04) and packed will use a mask that contains seven (7) characters because a four (4) byte packed data-item has seven (7) digits plus the sign field . . . .

For example:

Mask Field Result

$$,$$9 01234 $1,234

The edit MASK is part of your field definition. All masks are defined as literals in single quotes.

Syntax rules for EDIT MASKS

   The mask is part of the field definition

   Continuation characters MUST be coded if the MASK is NOT coded on the same line as the field definition

   Multiple parameters coded with the MASK must be enclosed in parentheses.

Mask Examples

GROSS-PAY 94 4 P 2 +

MASK (G BWZ ‘$$,$$9.99-‘)

The above field definition uses the plus-sign (+) to continue because the MASK is on the next line.

The mask parameters are enclosed in parentheses since there are MULTIPLE (3) parameters.

The mask value is enclosed in single quotes.

The character ‘G’ names the mask. Subsequent data items may use the same mask by simply coding the edit mask as follows. . . . . . .

NET-PAY 98 4 P 2 +

MASK (G)

NOTE: Any ALPHABETIC character (excluding ‘Z’) can be used to name an edit mask

The BWZ is an optional parameter for BLANK WHEN ZERO which will zero suppress the whole field when the contents of the entire record are ZEROES.
The mask should contain the same number of characters as digits in the field-name. The mask (defined above) has seven (7) characters in it due to the fact that there are seven (7) digits in a PACKED four-byte data item.
The negative sign at the end of the mask will print when the contents of the data item are NEGATIVE.