Paradyme V4.0 - Manual

File layout definition

Code

Description

INT

This conversion is used to check that the value input is a positive integer, i.e. 0, 1, 2, .....

-INT

This conversion is used to check that the value input is an integer, either positive or negative, i.e. .., -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, ..

ZF

Zero fill the value to the field length, justified according to the JUSTIFICATION parameter, provided that the value entered is a positive integer number. If it is not an integer then accept the value but do not perform any conversion

ZFI

As for ZF except that only positive integers will be accepted

YN

This validates the value to check whether it is YES or NO if the input field is greater than 3 characters in width. If less 3 characters wide it validates for Y or N. Lower case Y and N are converted to upper case and then to YES or NO if appropriate. Note that NY has the same result.

HUSH

This is primarily intended for input of passwords. As each character is input it will appear as a '.' on the screen. This will give the user some idea of how many characters have been input. Although the value entered by the user will not appear on the screen, it will be passed back to the program.

BF

This conversion is aimed at fixed length fields for record keys particularly in composite keys. It takes the value entered and justifies it according to the JUSTIFICATION parameter. It then pads out the input with blanks, i.e. BLANK FILL

NR

This conversion is intended for use with data entry system. It indicates to the system that no carriage return is required once the input field has been filled.

NRI

As for NR except that the value input must be an integer.

FIN

This is a conversion for use with financial systems. It allows the user to enter amounts as pence only. The system will then perform an MD2 conversion on it to display it as pounds and pence.

FIN,

As for FIN except that an MD2, conversion is performed instead.

DMY

Allow input a date which only specifies the month and year. If DMY is followed by a 2 then only 2 digits will be used to represent the year otherwise 4 digits are used. The month will be displayed in alpha form i.e. JAN, FEB etc. The internal format value will be as for the first day of the month/year entered.

NULL

Where the user requires a file access for a subsequent display but do not wishes to display the key that is used to access the XREF data record, they can specify NULL as a conversion for the prompt that defines the file access

ULC

Three conversions exist for manipulating the case of text. ULC is used to achieve a mix of upper and lower cases. When text is input, it is broken up into its words delimited by punctuation or spaces. Each word is then processed so that the first letter is in upper case and subsequent letters are in lower case. Note that with names beginning with 'MC' or 'MAC' then these are converted to 'Mc' and 'Mac' and the following letter is in upper case. So, for instance, if the user entered 'HELLO THERE', it would be converted to 'Hello There'.

LC

This converts all text typed to lower case. E.g. 'HELLO THERE' would be converted to 'hello there'

UC

This converts all text typed to upper case. E.g. 'hello there' would be converted to 'HELLO THERE'.

GN

Where the user requires a file access for a subsequent display but do not wishes to display the key that is used to access the XREF data record, they can specify NULL as a conversion for the prompt that defines the file access

GNZ

As above except that the generated number is zero filled according to the justification specified for the prompt. It also verifies that any input into this field is an integer.

NM

When working with text that has been specially processed to included special effects, a problem arises when formatting it for length on output. This is because, the effects themselves actually consist of a number of characters which are counted in the length of the display string. When an output mask is applied, this may result in the display string being truncated.

To avoid this problem the user should specify the 'NM' conversion which will suppress the generation of the MASK and its subsequent application to the data string. Note that the user is then responsible for the formatting of the display string

NMB

This is the same as for NM except that where the display string is null, i.e. no data to display, it will generate code to BLANK out the position on the screen where the data would be displayed.