Numeric field receiving alphanumeric data prints unwanted results

Products

• Easytrieve Report Generator

Issue/Introduction

When define storage or define field in FILE section, with the field definition as numeric, if the data input are alphabetic, the printed result will be printed as numeric, such as:

Data input A, the result printout as 1
Data input B, the result printout as 2
Data input C, the result printout as 3
Data input D, the result printout as 4
Data input E, the result printout as 5
Data input F, the result printout as 6

Is there any reconcile reference for this alphabetic data input numeric data conversion?  

 

Environment

CA Easytrieve Report Generator, release 11.6

Resolution

When alphanumeric data is defined with the numeric type N, CA Easytrieve is correct in printing the alpha data as numeric.

For Example:

A, B, C, D, .... => 1, 2, 3, 4,......

If the alpha data is defined by N type, then the CA Easytrieve product evaluates just the low four bits within each character.  CA Easytrieve recognizes the data which is defined with N type as numeric data and CA Easytrieve does not example the upper 4 bits.  Then, the alpha data is printed as numeric data.

This is how the CA Easytrieve product is designed. An IF test on the data field to determine and confirm that the data is numeric can be coded.