Does anyone know how to use a packed field, on Mainframe FOCUS, in a report? Does a packed field have to be edited into a decimal or other format prior to being used in a mainframe report?
How many characters in a report would a filed that is P08.2C use, once converted?
The reason I am asking is so that I can make sure that fields don't overlay each other on the 131 characters of a report, and also so that I might be able to truncate fields on a report if it becomes necessary to do so.
Thank you in advance..... your replies are greatly appreciated.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,
Mainframe FOCUS 7.0 VM/CMS and MVS/TSO
October 23, 2008, 09:36 AM
GinnyJakes
You need not worry too much. The packed field should display alright. A P8.2 means 8 printed positions on a report including the decimal point. If the field is too small, you will get asterisks and you'll have to override the display format.
Play with this code. You will see that if you change the format to P8.2, you will gets asterisks.
DEFINE FILE CAR
PCKIT/P10.2C=111111;
END
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT PCKIT
BY COUNTRY
END