Decimal

This keyword declares a binary coded decimal value with up to 32 digits of precision.

Syntax

Local    Decimal NAME
Local    Decimal NAME(DIMENSIONS)
Variable Decimal NAME(DIMENSIONS)
Value    Decimal NAME(DIMENSIONS)
Const    Decimal NAME(DIMENSIONS)
  • NAME is the name of the variable declared.
  • DIMENSIONS can be:
    • A single numeric value DIM, meaning that we have an array with an index range from 0 to DIM-1.
    • A range of numeric values INDEX1..INDEX2, where the index varies between INDEX1 and INDEX2.
    • Several indexes or index ranges separated by a comma. For multiple dimension arrays, up to four dimensions are possible.

Several variable declarations can be done on the same line, separated by a comma.

Local declarations create the variables in the current local variable class that is not seen by nested or calling subprograms. The Call / Subprog and func / Funprog insulate the local variables, as well as the calls of method by fmet.

Const, Variable, and Value declarations declare the arguments sent by a Call, func, or fmet. With these syntaxes, the dimensions and the index ranges can be omitted wherever the parenthesis is present. The dimension and index ranges are defined by the calling program.

Example

# Direct declarations
Local Decimal TURNOVER : # Local decimal variable
Local Decimal SALES_RESULTS(1..12), BENEFITS(1..12) : # Two arrays of 12 decimal values
# A sub-program computing a result from decimal values 
Funprog COMPUTE_VALUE(AMOUNTS)
Variable Decimal AMOUNTS(,,) : # A 3 dimensions matrix of decimals is sent as reference
...
End SEND_STATUS
# A sub-program storing decimals
Subprog STORE_VALUES(TURNOVER)
Value Decimal TURNOVER(1..20) : # An array of 20 elements is sent (a copy is done when passing the arguments)
...
End

Comments

There is still a Global declaration variable that exists for variables that have to be seen in the scope of a process execution, but its use is strongly discouraged.

Implicit data type conversion

The Decimal data type will implicitly convert Tinyint, Shortint, Integer, Double and Float to a Decimal.
...


Local Decimal MY_DECIMAL           # Declare decimal
MY_DECIMAL = 4294967295^2          # MY_DECIMAL= 18446744065119617025

See also

Global, Local, Variable, Value, Const, Tinyint, Date, Shortint, Integer, Float, Double, Char, Clbfile, Blbfile, Uuident, Datetime, Instance.