I wonder what the difference is, but I also had a problem today.
I changed a master by adding 4 new fields in one segment and to keep several reports working I made a computed field that summed these four fields together.
The result ? bad...I got stars in most of my reports, so it seemed to be that the description was to small to hold the values.

FIELDNAME=VALUE1, ACTUAL=D20.2,..,$
FIELDNAME=VALUE2, ACTUAL=D20.2,..,$
FIELDNAME=VALUE3, ACTUAL=D20.2,..,$
DEFINE VALUE4/D20.2=VALUE1+VALUE2+VALUE3;

Is there a limitation in the size?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Emily McAllister>,

Isn't the limit for D format 15. If you need larger, then P is good for 31.

Actually, the limit for D is 16 chars including decimal point and leading minus sign as applicable. D20.2 is often used though (just like I10 used to function when the max was I9 - I think) - it is now documented as max I11.

The limit for P is 33 characters, again including the decimal point and leading sign.

On the other hand, F limit is 9 with the same provisions as for other non-integer numbers

So, in theory you can declare (as of Version 5.3) -

D16 - using D16.14 to include signage
      through to D16 without decimal places
P33 - using P33.31 to include signage
      through to P33 (if you do not have any decimals)
F9  - using F9.7 to include signage
      etc. etc.
I11 - using I10 to include signage

Of course, many folks will require the Double precision format due to the way the original value is retained irrespective of the usage format. Especially in accounts processing.

T

And then there is of course also the scientific notation, which has a somewhat more extended display range: Maximally 33 positions.
For instance: COMPUTE FLD/E33.25=DCOST;
This will result in figures like: 0.4292000000000000000000000E+04

Hope this helps.

What type of database? With Oracle D20.2 is the default for a numeric field and I am sure it will work in 5.3 and higher. When you added the 3 new fields did you rebuild the file? Is it possible that you are hitting nulls or alpha data? Does your MFD match the metadata?

thx for thinking...

Pat, I did a rebuild the file, that was not the issue. I resized the 4 fields to D12.2, and that helped.

D or F format inside the computer looks something like scientific notation. You can display F20 if you like but you can only have 7 significant digits (because they use 24 bits for the digits, 7 bits for the power of 16, and one bit for the sign). A D format has 56 bits available for significant digits which means you can go up to 72,057,594,037,927,936 before you start loosing single units of precision.

Hi Tony,

What's the max size for D##.# now, / 8.1.0.7?

Decimal: The GUI shows D(1-20).(0-18).

Packed : The GUI shows P(1-33).(0-31).

So, is D30.2 or D22.2 valid?

Thanks, Doug