Coding Standards for Database Files › Coding Standards for Display Files › Related Design Utilities › Field Level › Display File Coding Standards - Field Editing

Display File Coding Standards - Field Editing

The following standards apply to field editing:

• Suppress signs on numeric fields where they are irrelevant; for example, on numeric codes, by means of the appropriate edit code or edit word.
• Edit dates, using the DDS edit word facility EDTWRD(‘ / / 0’). This ensures that input capable fields, which are dates, are blank when zero.
• Edit time fields with EDTWRD(‘ : : 0’). This ensures that input-capable fields, which represent times, are blank when zero.
• Suppress leading zeroes when displaying amounts—but print zero balances, since columns stand out better if they do not contain holes. For example:
  • The DDS PUTRETAIN keyword will normally be used with input-only fields, so the operator may see the last field value entered.
  • Right adjust with blank fill for numeric input fields; the DDS keyword CHECK(RB) should be used.

If a list of allowed values is specified for an input-capable field using the DDS VALUES keyword, set the MDT tag when first displaying the field, so as to ensure that the field is checked (DDS validation is only applied if a field is changed).