Flag formats: Using available formats for flag field input and output
For your convenience this section includes some overviews of the varying flag formats. In addition the concept of input and output formats is explained here.
When a flag field is read by the program, its value is translated to one of the logical values true, false, missing or in error. This translation generally varies with the (database) field; an internal knowledge base takes care of this.
The following table lists how the various output formats print these logical values. To see the default format for a field, use the FIELD primary command.
| Output format | TRUE | FALSE | MISSING | ERROR (or value 3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLANK$HDR | blank | header | blank | = FALSE |
| BLANK$NO | blank | "No" | blank | = FALSE |
| BLANK$STR | blank | string | blank | = FALSE |
| BOOLEAN_HEX | x'01' | x'00' | = FALSE | = FALSE |
| FLAG | "YES" | blank | blank | "???" |
| FLAG2NICE | "Yes" | "No" | blank | "?" |
| HDR$BLANK | header | blank | blank | = FALSE |
| OPERUND | "YES" | "NO" | blank | "?" |
| SF | "Success" | "Failure" | blank | = FALSE |
| STR$BLANK | string | blank | blank | = FALSE |
| YESNO | "Yes" | "No" | blank | = FALSE |
| $CASE | "ASIS" | "UPPER" | blank | = FALSE |
| $DOM | "NORMAL" | "ALL" | blank | "NONE" |
| $LOGCMDR | "SYSTEM" | "NO" | blank | = FALSE |
| $NO | blank | "no" | blank | = FALSE |
| $XRFSOFS | "FORCE" | "NOFORCE" | blank | = FALSE |
| $YESNO | "YES" | "NO" | blank | = FALSE |
Note that BOOLEAN_HEX is the only flag output format that does not
print blank for missing, but a zero-valued byte, because the format is intended to produce
machine readable
output.
Occasionally you might want to display a flag field that the program does not recognize as such. For example, an SMF_FIELD that you defined. When that happens the program uses an input format (translation of input values to logical values) depending on the specified output format. (At this time it is not supported to change the input format independently of the output format).
The following table lists what input values are interpreted as what logical values in this case.
| Output format | TRUE | FALSE | MISSING | ERROR (or value 3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLANK$HDR | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80 | input length 0 | - |
| BLANK$NO | first byte x'80' or x'01' | first byte not (x'80 or x'01') | input length 0 | - |
| BLANK$STR | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| BOOLEAN_HEX | first byte x'80' or x'01' | first byte not (x'80' or x'01') | input length 0 | - |
| FLAG | first byte x'80' or x'01' | first byte x'00' or x'40' | input length 0, or first byte x'FF' | first byte anything else |
| FLAG2NICE | first byte x'80' | first byte x'40' | input length 0, or first byte x'00' | first byte anything else |
| HDR$BLANK | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80 | input length 0 | - |
| OPERUND | first byte x'80' | first byte x'40' | input length 0, or first byte x'00' or x'10' | first byte anything else |
| SF | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| STR$BLANK | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| YESNO | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| $CASE | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| $DOM | first byte x'80' | first byte x'40' | input length 0, or first byte anything else | first byte x'20' |
| $LOGCMDR | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| $NO | first byte x'80' or x'01' | first byte not (x'80' or x'01') | input length 0 | - |
| $XRFSOFS | first byte x'80' | first byte not x'80' | input length 0 | - |
| $YESNO | first byte x'80' or x'01' | first byte not (x'80' or x'01') | input length 0 | - |
Note that x'80' is always seen as true, x'40' is always seen as false, and a field that is not present is always missing, so if this is appropriate, there is nothing to worry about. Further note that FLAG sees x'FF' as an 'undefined' value (as is usual in e.g. the RACF database).