I have a problem saving and restoring variables that contain single quotes and commas. I know if I try to use a ‘Free Format’ file, these characters will cause a problem but I thought if I used a ‘Fixed Format’ it would not try to delimit/parse the field based on the quote/comma.

Below is an example of my code.

The ‘write’ section works fine. If I look at the file that was created, I see it is a fixed length file with a record length of 30 characters. There are no CR/LFs in it which is correct and it contains the correct information. The 3rd record ('This', 'is', 'a', 'test') is written correctly.

The ‘read’ appears to be reading the records correctly but is still trying to delimit the field with the quote/comma. In the output, you will see that V1 and V2 are correct but V3 is incorrect.

******************************************************************
* Here is the code
******************************************************************

-DEFAULT &PVARSEQ = 0;
-SET &PVARSEQ = &PVARSEQ + 1;
-SET &PVARRAND = RDUNIF('D4.2') * 100000;
-SET &PVARNAME = &APPROOT | '\zyxtmp\pvar_' | &PVARRAND | '_' | &PVARSEQ | '.FMT';

-*-----------------

FILEDEF TEMPFILE DISK &PVARNAME (LRECL 30 RECFM F
-RUN
-WRITE TEMPFILE 'This is a test'
-WRITE TEMPFILE 'This, is a test'
-WRITE TEMPFILE 'This', 'is', 'a', 'test'

-RUN

-****************************************************************

FILEDEF TEMPFILE DISK &PVARNAME (LRECL 30 RECFM F
-RUN
-READ TEMPFILE, &V1.A30
-READ TEMPFILE, &V2.A30
-READ TEMPFILE, &V3.A30

-TYPE V1 is: &V1
-TYPE V2 is: &V2
-TYPE V3 is: &V3

******************************************************************
* Here is the output
******************************************************************

SET GRAPHENGINE=GRAPH53
SET EXCELSERVURL=http://wfdev:80/ibi_apps
FILEDEF TEMPFILE DISK d:\wfdev\ibi\apps\zyxtmp\pvar_2139_1.FMT (LRECL 30 RECFM F
FILEDEF TEMPFILE DISK d:\wfdev\ibi\apps\zyxtmp\pvar_2139_1.FMT (LRECL 30 RECFM F
V1 is: This is a test
V2 is: This, is a test
V3 is: This

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

Some syntax correcting may solve the problem. The comma after the file name in the -READ statements "denotes a free-format file", but it's defined as a fixed format. Supply the format with dots at the start and end, I.E. .A30..

-DEFAULT &PVARSEQ = 0;
-SET &PVARSEQ = &PVARSEQ + 1;
-SET &PVARRAND = RDUNIF('D4.2') * 100000;
-SET &PVARNAME = 'BASEAPP/PVAR_' | &PVARRAND | '_' | &PVARSEQ | '.FMT';

-*-----------------

FILEDEF TEMPFILE DISK &PVARNAME (LRECL 30 RECFM F
-RUN
-WRITE TEMPFILE 'THIS IS A TEST'
-WRITE TEMPFILE 'THIS, IS A TEST'
-WRITE TEMPFILE 'THIS', 'IS', 'A', 'TEST'


-CLOSE TEMPFILE

-*-----------------

-READ TEMPFILE &V1.A30.
-READ TEMPFILE &V2.A30.
-READ TEMPFILE &V3.A30.

-TYPE V1 IS: &V1
-TYPE V2 IS: &V2
-TYPE V3 IS: &V3

Francis: That's great help and took care of the problem.

Thank You

Here is a slightly different solution to the problem.

-DEFAULT &PVARSEQ = 0;
-SET &PVARSEQ = &PVARSEQ + 1;
-SET &PVARRAND = RDUNIF('D4.2') * 100000;
-SET &PVARNAME = 'BASEAPP/PVAR_' | &PVARRAND | '_' | &PVARSEQ | '.FMT';

-*-----------------

FILEDEF TEMPFILE DISK &PVARNAME
-RUN
-WRITE TEMPFILE -SET &|V1 = '''THIS IS A TEST''' ;
-WRITE TEMPFILE -SET &|V2 = '''THIS, IS A TEST''';
-WRITE TEMPFILE -SET &|V3 = '''THIS'', ''IS'', ''A'', ''TEST''';


-CLOSE TEMPFILE

-*-----------------

-INCLUDE &PVARNAME

-TYPE V1 IS: &V1
-TYPE V2 IS: &V2
-TYPE V3 IS: &V3

Write out FOCUS code and include it.