Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!hplabs!pyramid!infmx!aland
From: aland@infmx.UUCP (Dr. Scump)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Informix 4gl "construct" statement broken
Summary: thanks  (J Watson, be sure to read this)
Message-ID: <497@infmx.UUCP>
Date: 6 Oct 88 09:59:36 GMT
References: <471@pan.UUCP> <1214@cod.NOSC.MIL> <467@infmx.UUCP> <1241@cod.NOSC.MIL>
Organization: Informix Software Inc., Menlo Park, CA.
Lines: 42

In article <1241@cod.NOSC.MIL>, dberg@cod.NOSC.MIL (David I. Berg) writes:
> In article <467@infmx.UUCP>, aland@infmx.UUCP (Dr. Scump) writes:
> > In article <1214@cod.NOSC.MIL>, dberg@cod.NOSC.MIL (David I. Berg) writes:
> > > In article <471@pan.UUCP>, jw@pan.UUCP (Jamie Watson) writes:
> > > > The Informix 4gl "construct" statement is broken in such a way........
> > > > ...it useless anywhere the "DBDATE" environment variable is used to change
> > > > the default date format.
> 
> 
> > ...this...was fixed two versions ago (in 1.10.00).  
> 
> I confess I never re-tested this since obtaining V1.1.  It works as advertised.
> We are running I4GL V1.10.00C on a Zenith Z248 with Microport SysV V2.3.
> David I. Berg (dberg@nosc.mil)

Thanks for the confirmation.  (Are you listening, Jamie?)  
Jamie, if you are still having problems with it, make sure of the
following:
   1) make sure DBDATE is set *exactly* to a correct format (e.g.
      dmy2. ).  No quotes or other special characters should appear
      within the environment variable itself.  (I tested "dmy2." in
      both uppercase and lowercase -- it worked both ways.)
   2) make sure DBDATE is *exported*.
   3) if using dates in forms, make sure you have the correct FORMAT
      clause on the field attribute, e.g.  
         f001 = person.birthdate, format = "dd.mm.yy";
      otherwise, the standard date format ("mm/dd/yy") is assumed.
   4) make sure the form field is wide enough to accomodate the field
      (8 chars wide if using 2-digit years, 10 chars wide if using
       4-digit years).
   5) if the field is a FORMONLY field, make sure it is defined 
      TYPE DATE (or TYPE LIKE <date column>).
   6) in the case of 4GL CONSTRUCTs, carefully check your CONSTRUCT
      statement against the form fields it references.

I'll bet one of the above is the problem.

-- 
 Alan S. Denney  |  Informix Software, Inc.  |  {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland
 Disclaimer: These opinions are mine alone.  If I am caught or killed,
             the secretary will disavow any knowledge of my actions.
 Santos' 4th Law: "Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting *dirty* for"