digits() question

[ddiamond]

the following expression produces '003':
digits(dec('3',3,0))

The following expression produces '0004':
digits(dec('3',3,0)+1)

Can anyone tell me why it wasn't '004'?

Now I can get '004' with the following:
digits(dec(dec('3',3,0)+1,3,0))

but now we're getting a little rediculous. I guess the real question: Is there any way to increment a decimal without changing it width and scale?

 

[BrianTyler]

Hi,

I would guess that the length is increased to allow for arithmetic overflow, so that adding 1 to a dec(3,0) containg 999 could be shown as 1000.

Brian

 

[ddiamond]

OK, my goal is to increment a 3 digit numeric text field that is left padded with zeros.

As I mentioned, digits(dec(MyTextField,3,0)+1) does not work because it adds an extra digit.

One solution: digits(dec(dec(MyTextField,3,0)+1,3,0))
Another solution: substr(digits(dec(MyTextField,3,0)+1),2)
Another solution: substr(char(dec(MyTextField,3,0)+1001),2)
Another solution: substr(char(int(MyTextField)+1001),2)

Anyone have an oppinion as to which solution is best? Does anyone have any other approaches?