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Focal Point    Focal Point Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  WebFOCUS/FOCUS Forum on Focal Point     how to distinguish null from 0 in a var

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how to distinguish null from 0 in a var
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mike
Platinum Member
posted
does anyone know how to tell a variable whether it contains '0' or '' (null). WFC seems to think they are the same.


wf 7.6.11
unix aix
active reports, HTML, Excel, Text and PDF formats
 
Posts: 102 | Registered: April 20, 2004Report This Post
Jim Zucker
Member
posted Hide Post
Mike,

I don't know if you need to know the "value" or the existance of the variable. For existance, try the following:

-SET &ER = '&' ;
-*SET &VAR = 0;
-TYPE The variable &ER..VAR
-IF &VAR.EXISTS GOTO EXISTS ELSE DOESNT;
-DOESNT
-TYPE doesn't
-EXISTS
-TYPE exist

I tried testing the .LENGTH of &VAR with both '' and 0 (see below). 1 was returned for both values, so that's no good.

-SET &VAR = '';
-SET &LEN = &VAR.LENGTH;
-TYPE VAR length &LEN

Hope this helps.


WebFOCUS 53, 71, 76 - All Platforms
 
Posts: 15 | Location: Information Builders - Chicago | Registered: May 08, 2003Report This Post
Darin Lee
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
WF doesn't think they are the same unless you tell it it does. There is probable a MISSING=OFF in a master file somewhere that tells it to treat nulls as a blank or 0;


Regards,

Darin


In FOCUS since 1991
WF Server: 7.7.04 on Linux and Z/OS, ReportCaster, Self-Service, MRE, Java, Flex
Data: DB2/UDB, Adabas, SQL Server Output: HTML,PDF,EXL2K/07, PS, AHTML, Flex
WF Client: 77 on Linux w/Tomcat
 
Posts: 2298 | Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | Registered: February 02, 2007Report This Post
dhagen
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
There is a suffix function called ASIS().

Example from help files.
-SET &VAR1 = ' ';
-SET &VAR2 = 0;
-IF &VAR2 EQ ASIS(&VAR1) GOTO ONE;
-TYPE VAR1 &VAR1 EQ VAR2 &VAR2 NOT TRUE
-QUIT
-ONE
-TYPE VAR1 &VAR1 EQ VAR2 &VAR2 TRUE


"There is no limit to what you can achieve ... if you don’t care who gets the credit." Roger Abbott
 
Posts: 1102 | Location: Toronto, Ontario | Registered: May 26, 2004Report This Post
jgelona
Master
posted Hide Post
If you are not talking about & variables, the word you are looking for is MISSING. For example, to set a value to null or for null to be a valid value, a field should have MISSING=ON, for example:
FIELD=ABC,,I4,A4,MISSING=ON,$

For a DEFINE (see the manual for complete syntax):
ABC/I4 MISSING ON=IF TEST IS TRUE THEN DEF*4 ELSE MISSING;

Then to test for null:
WHERE ABC IS MISSING

When the field is printed, it will contain the NODATA character string which is . by default.


In FOCUS since 1985. Prod WF 8.0.08 (z90/Suse Linux) DB (Oracle 11g), Self Serv, Report Caster, WebServer Intel/Linux.
 
Posts: 975 | Location: Oklahoma City | Registered: October 27, 2006Report This Post
mike
Platinum Member
posted Hide Post
thank you all for the tips. I have to say the solution I am looking for is dhagen's because I was referring to the value of the var and there is no master file to speak of. Thanks!


wf 7.6.11
unix aix
active reports, HTML, Excel, Text and PDF formats
 
Posts: 102 | Registered: April 20, 2004Report This Post
Darin Lee
Virtuoso
posted Hide Post
Glad you found what you were looking for.

For future reference, there is ALWAYS a Master File to speak of with WebFOCUS, and sometimes, that's where the problem exists or where it can be fixed. Don't overlook that in your troubleshooting.


Regards,

Darin


In FOCUS since 1991
WF Server: 7.7.04 on Linux and Z/OS, ReportCaster, Self-Service, MRE, Java, Flex
Data: DB2/UDB, Adabas, SQL Server Output: HTML,PDF,EXL2K/07, PS, AHTML, Flex
WF Client: 77 on Linux w/Tomcat
 
Posts: 2298 | Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | Registered: February 02, 2007Report This Post
mike
Platinum Member
posted Hide Post
thank you, Darin. I will keep that in mind. In this case, however, I was talking about the value in a & variable. thanks.


wf 7.6.11
unix aix
active reports, HTML, Excel, Text and PDF formats
 
Posts: 102 | Registered: April 20, 2004Report This Post
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