Hi all,
i am displaying the values related to a particular field as $434,000..etc but some of them are displayed as ($65,000).i want to know why some of the values are displayed in brackets and others are not in brackets.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

Hi

Negative values are displayed in brackets.
You might have given the format something like field/D20B.

thanks

Are the values that are getting displayed in brackets are negative values?

THE FORMAT is like A99,WHAT I SHOULD DO TO not get the brackets.

and also i have nothing to do with the negative values,all the values are to be displayed are positive only,but i dont know why some of them are in brackets i.e;-ve.so please help me what i need to modify for getting the values in positive only.

swati,

If your format is really A99, then there is nothing that focus does with the display of the values, it just shows what is in the database.
Which means that the value in the database is recorded with brackets.
Please see your data adminstrator to see if (s)he can explain why there are brackets in this particular field.

If the format is actually something else than A99, then please tell us what the actual format is...

Please don't tell me that you have never seen numeric values with brackets during your career in the I.T. world?

If the format of the data column is A99, whatever application or tool used to load the data into that table is most likely converting a numeric column into an alpha column, with some values being negative and some being positive.

sorry the format is D16MBS.

So where did the A99 come from?

If the actual format is P16.4, check the usage format. It will be something like P16.4CB - just remove the B option. If there is no B option on the usage, then you've got something else messed up because a numeric format will not display brackets for negative values as a default.

i am having the format as D16MBS,now i need to know what i should change here so that the values are to be without brackets.i.e;positive only.

Huge difference between A99 and D16MBS. The B stands for brackets.

Describing Data With WebFOCUS Language

You would have to define or compute a new report column, using the Absolute Value function, ABS.

I guess you missed the part about removing the B option from the format. If you ONLY want positive values (understanding that you are changing the data because those values are obviously negative for a reason.) then you'll have to do as Francis suggests with the ABS function.

is there any way i can change the format from D16MBS to other format to get the 'NO brackets'.

Yes, there is. Please read the manual, or take a course or two.

i don't want to display the negative values as positive,i am sure that all the values are positive all the way,i don't know why there are some values getting displayed in brackets i.e;negative.if my intention is to display the negative values also as positive then i can use the ABS function.but here i donut understand why some of the values are displayed in brackets even though they are not suppose to be displayed like that.....

OK I will do Francis as u suggest...

quote:

i am sure that all the values are positive all the way

You would be wrong. If the values are truly numeric format then they REALLY ARE negative or they wouldn't be displayed as such. Now why they are negative, if you don't think that is valid, is something you would have to find out yourself.

And take the dang 'B' out of the format. That removes the brackets. (And you'll see the negative signs instead.)

If you're trying to learn something from this, it helps to read the posts and the references and try out the suggestions. You'll find that forums users try to leave a little for the person to figure out for themselves.

Hope this might be helpful:
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT
COMPUTE CHK2/D16MBS = SALES - 10000; AS 'NEGATIVE IN BRACKET'
COMPUTE CHK3/D16MS = SALES - 10000; AS 'NEGATIVE WITHOUT BRACKET'
COMPUTE CHK3/D16MBS = ABS(SALES - 10000); AS 'NO NEGATIVE NO BRACKET'
COMPUTE CHK3/D16MS = ABS(SALES - 10000); AS 'NO NEGATIVE NO BRACKET'
ON TABLE SET ASNAMES ON
END
-RUN

ok compute a field to be equal to the original d16ms field and multiply this original field by -1 i.e.,
newfield/d16mbs = oldfield * -1 ;
Every one of your values for the 'newfield' should now contain a negative value. if one single value contains a positive value - then I have news for you - you have negatives in the original field. Good luck. Ira

Swati,

More Points To Ponder:

1) If you think that all the number are (should be) POSITIVE then that would be something to deal with you DBA about.

2) Maybe the request was that ONLY POSITIVE NUMBERS show up on the report. If that's the case use the WHERE statement to weed out the negitive numbers.

3) As has been stated the brackets indicate that the numbers are positive - no matter what anyone else may tell you (unless they are shomehow based on an off set of another big number - weird, but possible).

4) You go with the belief that the numbers are positive or negitive and deal with it or do something about it.

* There are a lot of answers here, and as Drin said "You'll find that forums users try to leave a little for the person to figure out for themselves.". So, the Ball is in your court now...

SOLVED...