I would hazard a guess: this may be the result of specifying "PORTABLE". The data is explicitly converted to "human readable format" in order to be passed to other platforms, typically to be read by another implementation of PowerHouse, which would do its own sanity check when reading in the data. The plus sign is probably there because the formatting routine handles all types, signed and unsigned, and an explicit "+" doesn't "hurt", so why make the ADT code more complicated than it would need to be?
The specification of "UNSIGNED" is in the dictionary, and relate to the internal format of an item, when stored on that platform, whereas "PORTABLE" if for a standardized "external" representation.
As I said, just a guess...
Jean-Michel Adam, MSc. ISM
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-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James B. Byrne
Sent: Monday, 25 September, 2017 10:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] [OT] QTP output of unsigned zoned decimal
On Mon, September 25, 2017 12:39, Pickering, John wrote:
> define d-account-number char*8 = ascii(account-number,8) Or define
> d-account-number char*8 = char(account-number)
>
> Then include the defined item in your portable subfile instead of the
> actual data element.
Thanks, I am doing exactly that for other items where the values are signed but my question remains: Why is QTP prefacing an unsigned zoned decimal with a plus sign? I would expect only digits.
The facile answer is: Because they programmed it that way. But why?
Why does one have to convert ASCII encoded characters to . . . ASCII encoded characters to get rid of a character that is not in the source data?
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