Internal and External Values

Understanding Your Data Model › Using Conditions › Status Field Conditions › Value (VAL) Condition › Internal and External Values

Internal and External Values

You can specify two related values for a VAL condition:

Internal value—The value held on the implemented database file to represent the condition
External value—The value entered by and displayed to the user in functions

CA 2E automatically generates source to translate between the two values. The internal and external values may have different lengths. This value mapping facility may be used to facilitate translation into different national languages. Value mapping only takes place if a value is specified for the Translate condition (cnd) values field on the Edit Field Details panel and if a Check condition value is specified for the field.

If you add or modify values within that LST condition, you will need to recompile the functions that use the field. The validation check will then include your changes.

The following table contains examples of VAL conditions.

Condition	File Value	Translate Condition Value	Display / Input Value
Full-time Employee Part-time Employee	F P	N N	F P
Invoice status is 'Held' Invoice status is 'Paid' Invoice status is 'Delivered'	H P D	Y Y Y	HLD PAD DLV

Condition

File Value

Translate Condition Value

Display / Input Value

Full-time Employee

Part-time Employee

Invoice status is 'Held'

Invoice status is 'Paid'

Invoice status is 'Delivered'

HLD

PAD

DLV

If no Translate cnd values is specified, this condition is implemented using the VALUES keyword in the display file DDS.

If Translate cnd values is specified, this condition is implemented by HLL code specifying that the condition is to be checked against a CA 2E-created database file.

See the chapter "Maintaining Your Data Model" for more information on conditions and converting condition values.