Using External Action Blocks › Why this Step is Necessary › Determine Input and Output Requirements for External Action Blocks › Decimal Precision Attributes

Decimal Precision Attributes

Import and Export views in External Action Blocks may contain any of the supported attributes by CA Gen. This section is intended to give you a better understanding for handling views that contain attributes of type decimal precision.

The data structure for an attribute that is implemented with decimal precision is a DPrec array whose size is the length of the attribute plus three (for the sign, decimal point, and null terminator). A DPrec is a typedef of char. For example, an attribute that is defined as a number of 18 digits will be implemented as DPrec[21].

The number represented within the DPrec array may consist of the following depending on the definition of the attribute it implements:

• A minus sign
• Zero or more decimal digits with a decimal point, one or more decimal digits without a decimal point
• A decimal point
• One or more decimal digits
• A null terminator

For the import view, a decimal precision attribute may be its simplest form or may contain a plus sign and/or leading and trailing zeros.

For the export view, all decimal precision attributes must adhere to the following rules:

• The character representation of the number placed in the DPrec array may contain a fewer number of digits than that defined for the attribute. However, it must not contain more digits to the left or right of the decimal than that defined for the attribute.
• The DPrec array must be null terminated.
• If number of digits to the right of the decimal equals the total number of digits, the resulting string must not contain a leading zero prior to the decimal point.