AskPlus Release Information

AskPlus

Version 8.4.2 (Beta)

The enhancement to fill ASCII file output with blank lines by default is not valid for TAG file creation, therefore, we are re-evaluating this change.

Installing AskPlus Beta Version

Backwards Compatibility:

User Exits !isdate and !isnum:

The return values of !isdate and !isnum have been modified and consequently may not be fully backwards compatible with previous versions of AskPlus. See below for more details.

Users should scan production reports to search for any occurrences of these operators prior to installing this version as the default version.

There are two options for jobs (contexts) that use these operators:

• Rename !isdate(...) to !isdateorig(...) and rename !isnum(...) to !isnumorig(...), or
• Modify the job (context) to use the new operators which now return True/False instead of the actual date or number.

Contact support if you would like assistance with this update.

Enhancements:

• Report Output to ASCII file:

• By default, Report output to an ASCII file will fill the last page with blank lines (or a formfeed when CCTL is specified) when the file is created by Visimage, or when a trailer statement (Z1, Z2) is specified. To force the last page to be filled with blank lines from on other circumstances, use the FILLPAGE keyword on the OUT statement.

{{{ REPORT OUT=filename, DELETE, FILLPAGE ... }}}

• Updated Special Operators:

• !getval:typelen(filename.filename, parm])

• GetVal will strip trailing carriage return (\r) characters from a DOS formatted file (previously only linefeed (\n) chars were stripped.)
• If no typelen is specified, the default return length is automatically calculated.

• !isdate(parm[, "format"])

• Now returns True/False (K1) if parm is a valid date. (Previously the actual date was returned when true.)
• The format is now optional. If not specified a CYMD format is assumed.
• The original version is still available with the name !isdateorig

• !isnum(parm)

• Now returns True/False (K1) if parm is numeric. (Previously the return value was the actual number, or 0.)
• Any numeric parm returns True
• An ASCII value that contains only digits and optional sign and decimal point returns True.

(At least one digit is required.)

• The original version is still available with the name !isnumorig

• !getstr(str, "off, len") - See !mid (below)

• Len is no longer required, default is the rest of the str (starting at off).
• Offset can be passed as a numeric value (since len is no longer required).

• !datint(date, ["format"])

• If no format is specified, "CYMD" will be used
• When converting dates, !datint now supports the formatting characters '-' and '/', if the specified format is one of CYMD, YMD, MDCY, MDY, DMCY and DMY. For example: "3/15/2016" and "9/9/2009" can be converted using the format "MDCY".

• !datext(int-date, ["format"])

• Where "int-date" is any date in internal format (usually a call to !datint)
• If no format is specified, "CYMD" will be used
• New formats for displaying and converting dates:

• The characters d (day), m (month) and y (year) have a special meaning according to the table shown below.
• All other characters are treated as insertion characters - see examples.
• When DDD, DDDD, MMM or MMMM appear in all caps, the corresponding name will also be all upper case.

(Any other combination will display the day/month name using initial caps. Case has no meaning for d, dd, m, mm, yy and yyyy.)

Format Chars	Meaning	Output Length
d, dd	Day of month	One or two digits. (dd is always two).
ddd, dddd	Day name	Three chars (ddd) or full name (dddd).
m, mm	Month number	One or two digits. (mm is always two).
mmm, mmmm	Month name	Three chars (mmm) or full name (mmmm).
yy, yyyy	Year	Two digits (yy) or four (yyyy).

• Examples:

Date Value	Format	Result
20160704	"mm/dd/yyyy"	07/04/2016
20160704	"dd-MMM"	04-JUL
20160704	"d-m-yy"	4-7-16
20160714	"ddd mmmm d, yyyy"	Thu July 14, 2016
20160714	"DDDD MMMM DD, YY"	THURSDAY JULY 14, 16

• For CYMD dates, these formats can be used as print formats (Visimage & AskPlus) and with !format()

• New Special Operators:

• !uniqueid(number)

• Returns a unique ID based on the input number, example: !uniqueid(member-file.account)
• The generated ID is guaranteed to be unique and repeatable
• The calculation of the unique ID is mathematically reversible, however, no reverse function is provided and the algorithm is not documented
• This function will be useful if you want to provide a 3rd party a unique identifier for a member without disclosing the member's actual account number

• !iseven(parm)

• Similar to !even, except !iseven returns True/False (1/0), not 1 and -1.

• !isint(parm)

• Similar to !isnum returns True/False (K1) if parm is integer.
• If parm is type E or R - return False
• If parm is any other numeric type - return True
• An ASCII value that contains only digits and an optional sign returns True.

(At least one digit is required.)

• !mid(str, "off[,len]") - return a substring (see note)

• Return the middle part of str for the specified off and len. (off is 1 based.)
• If the len is not specified, the remainder of str is returned (starting at off.)
• Functionally equivalent to !getsr().

• !left(str, len) - return the first len characters of a string (see note)

• Return the left part of str for the specified len (off = 1).

• !right(str, len) - return the last len characters of a string. (see note)

• Return the right part of str for the specified len.
• Trailing blanks are counted. Use !right(!rtrim(str), len) to eliminate trailing blanks.

• Special note for !mid, !left & !right:

In most cases the first parm will be an ASCII (string) value, however, these operators will accept numeric values. The value will be converted to a character string and then the appropriate chars will be extracted.

• !trim(str) - return a trimmed string

• Trim leading & trailing blanks (and control characters < BLANK) from str.

• !ltrim(str) - return a trimmed string

• Trim all leading (left) blanks (and control characters < BLANK) from str.

• !rtrim(str) - return a trimmed string

• Trim all trailing (right) blanks (and control characters < BLANK) from str.

• !upper(str) - return an upshifted string

• Upshift all characters in str.
• Functionally equivalent to !shift(str, "U")

• !lower(str) - return an downshifted string

• Downshift all characters in str.
• Functionally equivalent to !shift(str, "D")

• !initcap(str) - return an string using InitCap logic

• Upshift the first character after each non letter in str (Downshift all of the other characters.)
• Similar to !shift(str, "I"), except shift only upshifts after a BLANK, whereas initcap upshifts after every non alpha character.

       !initcap("PATRICK O'BRIEN") = "Patrick O'Brien"
       !shift("PATRICK O'BRIEN", "I") = "Patrick O'brien"

• !keepchar(str, chars) - return a string keeping only certain chars

• Parse str and only keep the characters present in chars (all other characters are purged.)

• !purgechar(str, chars) - return a string purging certain chars

• Parse str and purge/drop any characters present in chars (all other characters are kept.)

       !purgechar(NAME, """'")  will purge all double and single quotes in NAME.

• !replacechar(str, "c1c2") - return a string replacing chars

• Parse str and replace all occurrences of c1 with c2.
• Only the first two characters of parm2 are used.

       !replacechar(NAME, """'")  will replace all double quotes in NAME with a single quote.

• !minval(parm1, parm2) - return the min value using a numeric comparison

• Return the smaller value (numerically) between parm1 and parm2
• Any ASCII parms are converted to R4 before the compare is done.

• !maxval(parm1, parm2) - return the max value using a numeric comparison

• Return the larger value (numerically) between parm1 and parm2
• Any ASCII parms are converted to R4 before the compare is done.

• !minstring(parm1, parm2) - return the min value using a string/ASCII comparison

• Return the smaller value (using a string comparison) between parm1 and parm2
• Any numeric parms are converted to ASCII before the compare is done.

• !maxstring(parm1, parm2) - return the max value using a string/ASCII comparison

• Return the larger value (using a string comparison) between parm1 and parm2
• Any numeric parms are converted to ASCII before the compare is done.

• New Formats (Edit Mask) for Dates

• For dates stored in CYMD format the new !Datext formats described above can be used directly as a print format.
• These formats are valid in Visimage3 and on AskPlus print statements and with the !format() operator.
• If dates are stored in a format other than CYMD, a combination of !datint and !datext is still necessary.

        D1, LOAN-FILE.DUE-DATE, "Ddd Mmmm d, yyyy", tab1

Fixes:

• Fix a bug in !cymd-diff-mths - The wrong number of months could be calculated when one of the dates was eom.
• Fix Convert Bug (Float to Int), for example, "67.71" * 100 did not work.

In a few instances, reading a float from an ASCII file and converting to INT has a rounding error.

• Limit warning messages in the selection to print a maximum of 50 times.

Previously available in Report/Save, now also in Find.

• Modify !isnum() and !isdate() to return True/False (K1) instead of attempting to return a numeric value

• Previous versions of !isnum returned inconsistent results
• For backwards compatibility rename the original versions as !isnumorig() and !isdateorig()

• Fix !Even() on Itanium.
• Fix a core dump when opening SD or INDEXED files with missing files or inconsistent access permissions
• Fix a core dump when the select file cannot be created.

AskPlus 8.3.3

Released to patch a critical bug dealing with database updates potentially causing data loss in older releases.

It is highly recommended to upgrade to AskPlus e.8.3.3 as soon as possible on any HPUX systems that run older versions and where UPDATES are run on eloquence data.

Along with the patches, several performance improvements where included when dealing with date comparisons.