Friedrich,
  In hopes of getting you an answer quickly, I'll give this a shot and trust
that one of the Image experts will weigh in with any necessary amendments
later.

Thus it was written in the epistle of [log in to unmask],
>
> 1) POWERHOUSE stores A00101 into a database field of type ZONED 6 as well
> as CHAR 6
>
> 2) QUERY  on the other hand complains, that this value is non numeric, if
> you try to add this value "by hand" (something I exected to happen)
>
> Does anyone have an explanation for this??

The explanation, I think, is that data is/are data.  That is, if you have 6
bytes in which to store data, those 6 bytes may hold any bit pattern you wish.
Image does no checking of the actual data.  Quoting from page 3-6 of the Sixth
Edition of the TurboIMAGE/XL Reference Manual, "TurboIMAGE/XL does not perform
any conversions of data or examine the item to check its validity as it is
being added to the database.  The only data item values that TurboIMAGE/XL
checks are those specified as part of a lock descriptor in calls to the DBLOCK
procedure. . . . There are no rules requiring that a specific type of data
defined by a programming language must be stored in a specific type of
TurboIMAGE/XL data item."

That's part of why certain members of this list recommend using only I and X
fields in databases (an opinion I don't hold, by the by, but nonetheless a
valid opinion).

Query, on the other hand, actually looks at and thinks about the data item type
and trys to do the right thing with it.  I'm guessing that it uses the same
routine for displaying a Z6 and an X6, but treats the data differently on
input.

HTH,
Ted
--
Ted Ashton ([log in to unmask]), Info Serv, Southern Adventist University
          ==========================================================
The words figure and fictitious both derive from the same Latin root,
fingere. Beware!
                        -- Moroney, M.J.