HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
LENGTH CHECK
Used to specify the minimum length of a field value.
Syntax
MINLEN value ["message"]
Parameters
value The value can be a field, constant, save field, or a
numeric expression, or it may be an index retrieve
operand within parentheses. Refer to "Statement Syntax"
earlier in this section for details.
message Specifies a custom error message.
Discussion
A value longer than the field cannot be entered because of the physical
limit imposed by the unprotected field area. For this reason, maximum
field length need never be specified as an edit check. You may, however,
specify the minimum number of characters to be entered with the MINLEN
statement.
The value specifies the minimum number of characters allowed in the
field. Note that this length does not include leading and trailing
blanks.
The system defined value $LENGTH may be specified. This value allows you
to indicate that the field must be filled. The advantage of using
$LENGTH rather than the current field length is that $LENGTH allows you
to change the field length without changing the MINLEN specification.
The $LENGTH constant is equal to the length of the field when the forms
file is compiled.
Example
1. For example, the minimum number of characters entered in a
six-character field could be specified as:
MINLEN 2
If the user spaces over three characters, types in one nonblank
character, and leaves the rest of the field blank, an error is
diagnosed.
2. In another example, MINLEN is used to specify that the field must
be filled. The following statement forces the field to filled,
leaving no leading or trailing blanks:
MINLEN $LENGTH
You can also use an indexed operand as follows:
MINLEN (LEN OF F1,F2,F3,F4,F5)
LEN must contain an integer value between 1 and 5, and the current value
of the fields F1 through F5 must be positive. The minimum length depends
on the value of LEN and the respective values of F1 through F5.