amper variables as numeric

[LPGAST]

HI Guys, Iam trying to create a amper variable to substitute the BY HIGHEST verb in my fex but it's not working for me....

I use this code before my define table

-* SET 
-SET &TOP_# = IF &TOP_N.EVAL GT '0O' THEN &TOP_N ELSE   &TOP_N.EVAL * -1;
-SET &BY_BY = IF EDIT(&TOP_N.EVAL) GT 'O0' THEN 'BY HIGHEST ' ELSE  'BY LOWEST ';
-SET &HI_LO = &BY_BY | '&TOP_#.EVAL' | ' TOTAL TY_MTD NOPRINT' ;
-? &HI_LO

no matter what I try it only takes the else clause, how do you evaluate amper varibales as numeric?

 

[ozi2]

Hi,
I think u have a zero number first and then the O letter.
It might be the problem...

oz

 

[LPGAST]

Yeah, it was one of them...but I think that may have happened after the initial error and I started playing the syntax. What I think may have been the problem is for some reason or the other it didn't like my expression in the else clause. I changed it to use the ABS function, fixed the typo it worked fine..

 

[MinusBoy]

Try just setting the amper variable without the quotes to treat it as numeric.

-SET &NUM1 = '2' ; ---> CHARACTER

-SET &NUM2 = 2 ; ----> NUMBER



THEN, evaluate the amper var against a NON-quoted number.
0 instead of '0'. This is treating it as an actual number zero instead of character zero.

-SET &BY_BY = IF EDIT(&TOP_N.EVAL) GT 0 THEN 'BY HIGHEST ' ELSE 'BY LOWEST ';

Hope that helps.

 

[focwizard]

Actually, whether the value is in quotes or not has no bearing on what is stored. ALL variables in Dialogue Manager are stored as character strings. It's when they're used that a determination is made, as to how to treat them (numbers versus character strings).

You can see this if you type out &variable.TYPE; if &variable can be treated as a number, the .TYPE value is 'N'; if a character string, it displays 'A'.

It seems you want to test on whether a value has been set or not. To do that, use the .EXISTS qualifier. &variable.EXISTS will be 1 (true) if &variable has a value, and 0 (false) if not.

 

[LPGAST]

NO, what I was trying to do was have the user enter a numerical value and then set the LOWEST or HIGHEST Clause based on the value entered.

It has been solved, so don't go crazy, it was mainly a syntax error.