HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
System Definition The various system definition facilities are accessible from the system definition screen. To display this screen, select the System Definition option on the system-wide specifications menu. Most likely, you will only need to use the system definition facilities when you're setting up HP ALLBASE/4GL for the first time. Even then, you will only need to change these specifications if the released defaults don't suit your particular needs.Click here to view figure. This screen has two functional areas. The top group of fields allow you to define the date format, decimal radix character, and the currency symbol. The last field allows you to enter the name of the default MPE command interpreter program. The following sections describe the meanings of these fields and the acceptable entries for them. When you've completed your entries for these fields, press the Commit Data function key to confirm your entries and terminate the screen. System-wide Values Date Format. HP ALLBASE/4GL can present dates on reports and screens in either US or European date format. The US date format is MM/DD/YY, and the European date format is DD/MM/YY. In both cases MM represents the month, DD the day, and YY the year. The system-wide date format applies to all applications on the system. To set the date format for the system, enter either U or E in the U.S. or European field on this screen. You can also define the separator character in dates as they are displayed on screens or printed on reports. Typical examples are / or -. Enter the separator character you require in the Separator Character field.
NOTE HP ALLBASE/4GL stores dates internally in the YY/MM/DD form, regardless of the system-wide date specification. The system-wide date format only controls the way HP ALLBASE/4GL displays dates on screens or reports, and the way data is accepted into screen fields with date type edit codes.
Decimal Number Format. The entry in the Decimal Radix Character field defines how HP ALLBASE/4GL prints decimal numbers on reports. The system provides two options: the English language number format n,nnn.nn and the European number format n.nnn,nn. Enter . in the Decimal Radix Character field to set the system to English number format or enter , to set the system to European number format. This entry defines the way HP ALLBASE/4GL presents numbers on reports if the application developer has specified that numbers contain numeric punctuation. Currency Symbol. HP ALLBASE/4GL allows you to define the currency symbol that is printed before money amounts on reports. The entry in the Currency Float Symbol field on this screen defines the system-wide currency symbol. The default symbol is $. To change the symbol, enter the new symbol into this field. You can enter any printable character in this field. This entry defines the way HP ALLBASE/4GL presents money amounts on reports if the application developer has specified that the amount is printed with the currency float symbol. Operating System Environment The last field on the system specifications screen allows you to define the default MPE/iX command interpreter for the HP ALLBASE/4GL system. MPE/iX Command Interpreter. The entry in this field defines the default MPE/iX command interpreter program that is executed if the user presses the Op. System function key. Users can execute a specific program by setting the MPE/iX variable HP4CI to the name of a program. (Users can also specify the name of a command interpreter program by setting the MPE/iX variable SHELL.) In this case, MPE/iX executes the program defined by this variable whenever the user presses the Op. System function key. The system only calls the command interpreter you specify on this screen if the HP4CI (or SHELL) variable is not set. If you're not sure what to enter in this field, leave it as CI.PUB.SYS (the released default). This is the standard MPE/iX command interpreter, and you can be confident that it will be available on your system.