Re: Setting A Hex Value in COBOL


"William M. Klein" <wmklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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<snip>
Remember that CH-E5-BIN is a binary halfword (two bytes). Therefore,
although the value is 'three digits' it can be accommodated into a single
byte. In fact, any value up to 255 would be OK... (It is only 'three
digits' because you are thinking in decimal :-))

What Pette says above is true AND FALSE. As the OP mentioned an IBM
mainframe compiler, this will totally depend upon what setting of TRUNC is
specified - and how the field is used. If one wants to be "totally safe"
it is NEVER a "good idea" to put a 3 (decimal) digit value into a field
defined with "PIC 9(2)" - regardless of USAGE (unless using an implementer
defined usage that SAYS this is OK, such as COMP-5 or COMP-X in some
compilers).


I was aware of the TRUNC NOTRUNC options but I believe that neither of them
will affect this - correct me if I'm wrong. The field is defined as 4 digits
and is binary, a value no greater than 255 is being placed in it. Truncation
to 4 digits or non-truncation of 5 digits will have no effect on this
particular case, as far as I can see. I have used exactly this approach on a
number of installations and never had a problem with it. (Maybe they all had
the same defaults).

There is no question of a PIC 9(2) field being involved... It is a halfword
redefined to PIC XX.

I posted because the OP was getting a lot of whys and wherefores when really
all that was needed was a simple "yes" or "no".

Pete.




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