I have a Dialog Manager variable that contains a "&" e.g. &SYSTEM = "P&C Canada". I realize that this will cause problems. One solution I know of is to change the value of the variable to "P&|C Canada". Is there any other way to use the variable without changing the value?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Francis Mariani,

Example (The Dialog Manager value is normally created by a -READ statement, for this example it is created by a -SET statement):

-SET &F1V1 = 'P&|C Canada';

-SET &F1V1L = &F1V1.LENGTH;
-SET &F1V1L1 = &F1V1L + 1;

-*STRREP (inlength, instring, searchlength, searchstring, replength, repstring, outlength, outstring)
-SET &F1V1 = STRREP (&F1V1L, &F1V1, '1', '&', 2, '&||', &F1V1L1, 'A&F1V1L1');

-TYPE &F1V1

The resulting value is wrong: "P&|C Cana"

Things are complicated by the fact that I have an & in a variable and I want to replace it with &| both of which are special characters for Dialog Manager.

OK, I've fixed the STRREP by adding an EVAL:

-SET &F1V1 = STRREP (&F1V1L, &F1V1, '1', '&', 4, '&||', &F1V1L1, 'A&F1V1L1.EVAL');

I'd still like to know if there's another way to use the variable without having to use STRREP.

Francis,

Works the same way in 7.6.9 but I can't understand why the .EVAL works. Logic says that it should make no difference as the A&F1V1L1 is interpreted as A11 anyway.

I "fix" data inputs using STRREP as well and I haven't found a better way for me yet (always open to suggestions though). The main ones that we encounter are in free format text notes fields where the app adds line CRLF when the user hits "new line".

T

yes, I don't know why I needed the .EVAL in the STRREP function.

It appears I also need .EVAL for the report HEADING and WHERE statements:

TABLE FILE BBC_RWA
PRINT GROUP_RPT_DS
WHERE GROUP_RPT_DS EQ '&F1V1.EVAL'
WHERE READLIMIT EQ 1
HEADING
"&F1V1.EVAL"
END

Francis,

Perfect timing on this post! I have the same issue with data values containing the Ampersand character ('Lawn & Garden'). I'm already doing a STRREP to remove the OR and replace it with a comma. Then I pass these values to a SQL Passthru query and, oddly enough, they worked even though they looked like ('Lawn & Garden').

However, to be safe I think I'll use the .EVAL method you show here.

Regards,

Dan

Dan, I would think you're safe if the & has a space after it - my problem is of the A&B variety not A & B.

I've had my morning coffee and I'm still not quite "getting it".

I create a fex like this:

-SET &F1V1 = 'P' | '&' | 'C Canada';

-TYPE &F1V1

TABLE FILE CAR
HEADING
"&F1V1"
   PRINT CAR
   WHERE WARRANTY EQ '&F1V1' ;
-*  You can also use &F1V1.QUOTEDSTRING
END
  

which yields this:

P&C Canada
TABLE FILE CAR
HEADING
"P&C Canada"
   PRINT CAR
   WHERE WARRANTY EQ 'P&C Canada' ;
END

 NUMBER OF RECORDS IN TABLE=        0  LINES=      0
  

EricH,

I need my afternoon tea after this one!

Here is code that does not work correctly:

-SET &F1V1 = 'P' | '&' | 'C CANADA';

-SET &SELF1 = IF '&F1V1' EQ 'PCG CANADA'
-  THEN 'WHERE WARRANTY NE ''PCG (TOTAL)'' AND COUNTRY NE ''ITALY'''
-  ELSE 'WHERE WARRANTY NE ' | '''&F1V1''';

-TYPE &F1V1

SET EMPTYREPORT=ON

TABLE FILE CAR
HEADING
"&F1V1"
PRINT CAR
&SELF1
END
-RUN

&SELF1 gets evaluated as

WHERE WARRANTY NE '&F1V1'

Putting a .EVAL in

-SET &SELF1 = IF '&F1V1' EQ 'PCG CANADA'
-  THEN 'WHERE WARRANTY NE ''PCG (TOTAL)'' AND COUNTRY NE ''ITALY'''
-  ELSE 'WHERE WARRANTY NE ' | '''&F1V1.EVAL''';

results in an error: (FOC295) A VALUE IS MISSING FOR: &C

Francis in this particular case the .EVAL
is required on the &SELF1 not the &F1V1

The reason being that you do not want the evaluation to take place in the -SET
you need it to take place at the time of the parsing of the WHERE

Francis,

I don't know if it will work in your particular situation, but you can do this on the ELSE clause:

 
-  ELSE 'WHERE WARRANTY NE ' | '''' | &F1V1 || '''';
 

EricH