HP Data Entry and Forms Management System (VPLUS) Reference Manual (32209-90024)

214 Chapter5
Reformatting Specifications
Output Field Menu
by data type.)
The remaining items in the Output Field Menu allow you to specify reformatting to be
performed on the data item when it is moved to the output field. Note that these
reformatting specifications cannot override the standard conversion and reformatting
performed on the item based on the destination data type.
Data Type
You may change the output data type to a type other than CHAR. If, for example, the data
type of the input item is NUM2, you can retain this data type by changing the output data
type from CHAR to NUM2. This causes the value to be reformatted according to the
standard rules for data type reformatting.
To illustrate, when a NUM2 item entered as 000123.12 is moved to a NUM2 field, leading
zeros are replaced by blanks and it is right justified in the field. If moved to a CHAR field
the value is moved to the output field exactly as entered. For another example, assume a
date of type MDY is entered as MAR 6, 1986. If the output data type is left as CHAR, the
date is written to the output field as MAR 6, 1986. If, on the other hand, the output data
type is changed to MDY, the date is written as 03/06/86. When you change a data type to
one other than CHAR and different from the original data type, you must take care since
not all data types are interchangeable, and those that are may require conversion of the
data. Allowed changes are:
Any type to character No conversion — data is left exactly as it was entered.
Numeric to numeric Convert numeric value to conform to the destination type (DIGIT,
NUM, NUMn, or IMPn).
Date to date Convert date to
dd/dd/dd ; the exact order depends on the destination date
type (MDY, DMY, or YMD).
Field Formatting
The remaining Output Field Menu specifications affect the actual data in the field. These
specifications (STRIP, JUSTIFY, SIGN, FILL, and CHECKDIGIT) are performed in
addition to the standard formatting performed when data is moved from an input (batch)
field to an output field.
The standard formatting is described in Table 5-2. In general, the data is first converted to
the destination data type, if necessary. Then all other formatting is performed. Note that
the data is converted only if the output field type is specifically changed to a type other