Converting Pic 9 to Pic X for COBOL/400 3

[bitsandbits]

Hello,

I couldn't find this in the FAQ or Archives, and I'm new to COBOL (been learning on the job for two months). If this has already been asked, my apologies.

I am looking to convert a PIC 9 field VALUE 55 to PIC X, resulting in the printing of 55 asterisks. Sounds simple, but I am baffled on the conversion. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

Bitsandbits

 

[3gm]

I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do. Sounds like you're given an integer (PIC 99 at least to hold 55) and want to print out a variable number of asterisks on a line depending on that value? That's a normal thing to do when printing a histogram for instance.

Here's one cut at solving that problem:

01  WS-VALUE      PIC 99 VALUE 55.
01  WS-PRINT-LINE PIC X(132).
01  SUB           PIC S9(4) COMP.
...
MOVE SPACES TO WS-PRINT-LINE
PERFORM VARYING SUB FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL
                SUB > WS-VALUE
    MOVE "*"           TO WS-PRINT-LINE(SUB:1)
END-PERFORM
WRITE OUTPUT-RECORD FROM WS-PRINT-LINE
.
[\CODE]

 

[gbell]

I'm not sure if this will help but ....

Data definitition in Working Storage

05 Data.
10 Data-9 Pic 9(55).

In the Procedure Division

MOVE ALL '*' TO DATA.

Data now contains 55 *'s.

In effect you have two definitions of the same data, alphanumeric at the group level (Data) and numeric at the elementary level (Data-9).

 

[bitsandbits]

3gm and gbell,

Wow! Thanks for the great posts. You solved my problem in a matter of minutes.

As I said, I've only been working with COBOL for two months or so, and haven't encountered a histogram until now. You two saved the day, and the boss will be happy!

Thanks again,

bitsandbits

 

[k5tm]

Well, not to be too critical, but the PIC 9(55) will not work, for reasons that should be obvious.

Another approach which obviates the need for a PERFORM loop is shown. I am assuming the need to print 0-99 asterisks (i.e. a percentage histogram).

01  PRINT-LINE  PIC X(132).
....
01  STAR-LINE-UP  PIC X(99) VALUE ALL "*".
01  STARS-NEEDED  PIC 9(2).
...
    IF STARS-NEEDED NOT = 0
        MOVE STAR-LINE-UP (1: STARS-NEEDED) TO PRINT-LINE
    ELSE
        MOVE SPACES TO PRINT-LINE
    END-IF

An older variant of this would be to use a variable group, but the reference modification approach is cleaner, IMO. Tom Morrison

 

[bitsandbits]

k5tm,

Thanks for the heads up on the PIC 9(55). I'll get the hang of this "handing out stars" thing yet.

Your idea worked. Thank you.

Dave Kibler
Bitsandbits

 

[ceh4702]

This isnt that hard. Print the stars like this:

USE A FIELD CALLED STAR-COUNT PIC 9(03).
USE A FIELD CALLED LINE-GRAPH PIC X(100).
USE A FIELD CALLED ONE-STAR PIC X(02) VALUE "* ".

MOVE SPACES TO LINE-GRAPH.
PERFORM GRAPH STAR-COUNT TIMES.

GRAPH.
STRING
LINE-GRAPH DELIMITED BY " "
ONE-STAR DELIMITED BY " "
INTO LINE-GRAPH
END-STRING.

YOU GOTTA LOVE IT.

This is only one way to do it.

String is not used that commonly in COBOL.

You can make a table and a loop and stop the subscripting or use varying depending on the value of STAR-COUNT.

01 LINE-GRAPH-TABLE
GRAPH-LOC OCCURS 100 TIMES INDEXED BY STR-IDX
PIC X(01).

SET STR-IDX TO 1.

PERFORM GRAPH-STARS UNTIL STR-IDX > STAR-COUNT
OR STR-IDX = 100.

GRAPH-STARS.
MOVE "*" TO GRAPH-LOC (STR-IDX).
SET STR-IDX UP BY 1.

Might be easier to do this with a search routine. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[slade]

ceh4702,

Your approach will work, but you gotta go w/Tom's (k5tm) solution: no perf loop, easier to read, probably more efficient. Especially if STARS-NEEDED is COMP or COMP-3 (I'd have to check the generated BAL code). Don't know if that matters on a PC, I know it does on the mainframe.

Regards, Jack.

 

[SUBHA10]

How to build in a subfile in COBOL/400 ? How to build a windown subfile?

 

[ceh4702]

For subfiles in COBOL/400 you may want to purchase a book for COBOL400 off of

http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...3534218/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/002-3069566-6200041

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...3534259/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-3069566-6200041

I have the first edition of this at home. It is a pretty good book. The book is titled Programming in COBOL/400 by James Cooper and Stern & Stern.

I am guessing that a subfile is a logical file. With logical file descriptions you can either combine 2 files, or parts of them or possibly just describe one file and use a subset of the fields in the file. This is possible because on the AS400 the files are treated as a database. Files can be objects with sub-files inside of them also. This is a unique aspect of the AS400.





If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.