Dynamic Template panel
The Dynamic Template panel is used to define fields and set record selection criteria within a dynamic template (see Creating dynamic templates).
Panel and field definitions
- Cmd
- Prefix command area - used to enter a template editor prefix command.
- Con
- Connectors - used to specify the AND/OR connectors.
These are only relevant to lines containing record
selection expressions. The default value is
AND. You can overtype the
connectors with any of the following values:
- Value entered
- Resultant value
- AND
- AND
- &
- AND
- OR
- OR
- |
- OR
Note: Abbreviations are accepted. For example, overtypeAND
withO
and it is changed toOR
. - (
- Left Parenthesis - Parentheses must only be used on lines containing expressions. They are used to group record selection criteria. The number of left parentheses must match the number of right parentheses.
- Start
- An editable field in which you can enter or
edit a field's starting column number. This must
be between 1 and the record length or, if you specify
a
+
sign optionally followed by an offset number (default zero), the start location is calculated as:(previous field start) + (previous field length) + offset
For example,
+0
starts at the next contiguous location and+4
starts 4 bytes past the next contiguous location. - Length
- An editable field in which you can enter or edit the length of a field.
For most fields, this can be from 1 to the maximum length dictated by the
record but the Start value plus the Length of the field should not exceed the
record length. Restrictions apply for some field types:
- If the Type is:
- then Length must be:
- BI
- 2, 4 or 8
- FE
- > 6 and < 24. The precision is the length minus 6. The scale is the precision minus 1. Graphic and DBCS strings must be an even number of bytes.
- FP
- 4 or 8
- PD
- between 1 and 16
- ZD
- between 1 and 32
- Type
- An editable field in which you can enter or edit the
data type of a field. This must be one of:
- AN
- Alphanumeric
- AX
- Alphanumeric displayed in long hexadecimal.
- B
- Binary
- BI
- Binary
- BT
- Bit string
- C
- Alphanumeric
- DB
- DBCS string
- FE
- Floating point (external)
- FP
- Floating point (internal)
- G
- Graphic string
- P
- Packed decimal
- PD
- Packed decimal
- VB
- Varying bit
- VC
- Varying character
- VD
- Varying DBCS
- VG
- Varying graphic
- Z2
- Null-terminated varying-length(VARYINGZ) DBCS string
- ZA
- Unsupported zoned decimal edited
- ZC
- Varying character null terminated
- ZD
- Zoned decimal
- ZG
- Varying graphic null terminated
- Field Name
- An editable field in which you can enter or edit the field names in your
dynamic template. The name can consist of any characters, including spaces,
up to a maximum of 35.
If the Start, Length and Type fields are filled in but the Field Name is left blank, a name is generated in the form
@@DTnn
where nn is the field number. The name is generated either on exit or when you perform a template edit. Existing field names taking the form@@DTnn
are regenerated to ensure nn always reflects the current field number.Note: If you are running a screen width of 115 or greater, the Field Name field can be displayed at the same time as the Start, Length and Type fields. However, at any width less than this, you need to toggle the display between Field Name and Start, Length and Type. The default is to display Start, Length and Type. To toggle the display, ensure that your cursor is not in a Value field and press the Right function key (F10) or Left function key (F11). - Op
- Operator - used to create record
selection expressions. Valid operators are:
- =, EQ
- True if the terms are equal (numerically or when padded)
- \=, ¬=, /=, NE
- True if the terms are not equal (inverse of =)
- >, GT
- Greater than
- <, LT
- Less than
- ><, <>
- Greater than or less than (same as not equal)
- >=, GE
- Greater than or equal to
- \<, ¬<
- Not less than
- <=, LE
- Less than or equal to
- \>, ¬>
- Not greater than
- ==
- True if terms are strictly equal (identical)
- \==, ¬==, /==
- True if the terms are NOT strictly equal (inverse of ==)
- >>
- Strictly greater than
- <<
- Strictly less than
- >>=
- Strictly greater than or equal to
- \<<, ¬<<
- Strictly NOT less than
- <<=
- Strictly less than or equal to
- ACO
- Contains all of the values specified. Matching case sensitive. The negative form is XCO.
- ACU
- Contains all of the values specified. Matching not case sensitive. The negative form is XCU.
- CO
- Contains one of the values specified. The negative form is ¬CO.
- CU
- Contains one of the values specified. Matching not case sensitive. The negative form is ¬NC.
- NC
- Numeric contains - a number is one of the values. The negative form is ¬NC.
- NN
- (Same as ¬NU.) Field does not contain a valid numeric for the field type. The positive form is NU.
- NR
- Not in range - field < value1 or field > value2. The positive form is RG.
- NU
- Field contains a valid numeric for the field type:
- Field type
- Test for being valid numeric
- BI, FE, FP, PD, and ZD
- Checked against the field definition
- Other
- Recognized as numeric if the display value or character value the field
contains is a valid number. The valid number can contain anything that is
valid for a floating-point external or decimal number.
For example:
-1234.55 +3.4621E+10
- RG
- Range - value1 >= field <= value2. The negative form is NR.
- XCO
- Does not contain all of the values. Matching case sensitive. The positive form is ACO.
- XCU
- Does not contain all of the values specified. Matching case sensitive. The positive form is ACU.
- ¬CO
- Does not contain one of the values specified. The positive form is CO.
- ¬CU
- Does not contain any of the values specified. Matching not case sensitive. The positive form is CU.
- ¬NC
- Does not contain the specified number(s). The positive form is NC.
- ¬NU
- (Same as NN.) Field does not contain a valid numeric for the field type. The positive form is NU.
- VER
- Verify this field is composed only of characters specified in the Value column.
- Value
- Use this field to provide a character or numeric constant to be used for
comparison in the expression. If the operator supports more than one value
(for example, RG, CO) then use comma delimiters to provide separate values.
You can use up to 255 characters in this field, and use the Left and Right primary commands or function keys to scroll within the field.
When specifying values, the following rules apply:
- Hexadecimal strings
- A hexadecimal string must be in the form 'hhhhhh'x or x'hhhhhh'. The value enclosed in quotation marks must be an even number of characters and contain valid hexadecimal characters. (0123456789ABCDEF).
- Binary strings
- A binary string must be in the form 'nnnnnn'b or b'nnnnnn'. The value enclosed in quotation marks must be a combination of 0 and 1s.
- Numeric Operands
- The value(s) specified for a numeric field type must be a valid number. Quoted values are not accepted.
- Character strings
- For non-numeric types the value is automatically enclosed in quotation marks if you do not specify them. When specifying more than one value for operations other than RG and NR you must provide quotation marks for all the comma delimited values
- Date strings
- A date string must be in the form d’xxxxxxxx’. The string must be specified
in the output format defined for the field.
The following is an example of a date value:
where the output format is:d'Jan 01, 2014'
Mmm DD, YYYY
- Time strings
- A time string must be in the form t’xxxxxxxx’.
The string must be specified in the output format defined for the field.
The following is an example of a time value:
where the output format is:t'15:30:00.000'
HH:MI:SS.999
Note:- Date and time strings cannot be used with contains operators.
- When used with range operators requiring two values the second value should be
quoted, for example,
d'Jan 01, 2014','Dec 01, 2014'
- Use
d'='
ort'='
to retrieve the current date or time value in the output format.
- )
- Right Parenthesis - Parentheses must only be used on lines containing expressions. They are used to group record selection criteria. The number of left parentheses must match the number of right parentheses.
Parent panels
Child panels
- The display panel that would normally result from your starting Entry panel.
Equivalent functions
- None.