Hi,

I want to define:

whatever/Format = if whatever eq whatever then &something_which_does_not_Need_to_exist else 6something_that does exist

the Problem is that if the variable which does not necessarly Need to exist (because of the logic in my fex) is missing, then I get the ..if..then..else Syntax error, even if my case is the ELSE case.

there are techniques like whatever/format WITH GRADE = IF &something_that_does_not_need_to_exist IS MISSING THEN &something_that_exists ELSE &something_that_does_not_need_to_exist ;
but i get the same if then else error.

Hopefully there is a answer.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FP Mod Chuck,

Jenni

Try this at the beginning of your code.


-DEFAULTH &something_which_does_not_Need_to_exist = '';


Be careful with using an amper variable set to '', as the IF THEN ELSE will evaluate to IF IS MISSING THEN Blah ELSE ;


I would suggest defaulting the a DEFINEd or COMPUTEd field to control what happens in the test.

i cant use -Default, because it Needs to be a IA Report

You can check the existence of a variable with .EXIST

.EXIST tests for the presence of a value. If a value is not present, a zero (0) is passed to the expression. Otherwise, a non-zero value is passed.

whatever/format WITH GRADE = IF &something_that_does_not_need_to_exist.EXIST EQ 0 THEN &something_that_exists ELSE &something_that_does_not_need_to_exist ;

Or if a space value is also a non-existing value for you then try &something_that_does_not_need_to_exist.QUOTEDSTRING EQ ''

Martin.