PK66671: RATIONAL COBOL RUNTIME V6.0.1: STRLIB.FORMATNUMBER() SYSTEM FUNCTION RETURNS INCORRECT FORMATTED STRING

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• Rational COBOL Runtime V6.0.1 + PTF UK34778 (Rational Business
  Developer 7.1 support:
  
  When an EGL program is generated using Rational Business
  Developer V7.1, and the COBOL program is run on z/OS, the
  strLib.formatNumber() system function returns incorrect
  formatted strings.
  
  The following is an example of an EGL program that has this
  problem:
  
  program TestFormatNumber type BasicProgram
     {
       alias = "TSTFNUM",
       allowUnqualifiedItemReferences = yes,
       includeReferencedFunctions = yes
     }
  
     dec1 decimal(1);
     dec3 decimal(3);
     chr1 char(1);
     chr3 char(3);
  
   function main()
    SysLib.writeStdout("Start TestFormatNumber");
  
    dec1 = 0;
    dec3 = 0;
  
    chr1 = StrLib.formatNumber(dec1, "#");
    if (chr1 == " ")
     SysLib.writeStdout("OK. chr1 is \"" + chr1 + "\"");
    else
     SysLib.writeStdout("Error. chr1 is \"" + chr1 + "\" but \" \"
  was expected");
    end
  
    chr3 = StrLib.formatNumber(dec1, "###");
    if (chr3 == " ")
     SysLib.writeStdout("OK. chr3 is \"" + chr3 + "\"");
    else
     SysLib.writeStdout("Error. chr3 is \"" + chr3 + "\" but \"
  \" was expected");
    end
  
    SysLib.writeStdout("End TestFormatNumber");
   end
  end
  
  This problem occurs when the COBOL is generated for ZOSBATCH and
  ZOSCICS.  It does not occur using the EGL debugger.
  
  Here are the incorrect results:
  
    Start TestFormatNumber
    Error. chr1 is "0" but " " was expected
    Error. chr3 is "  0" but "   " was expected
    End TestFormatNumber
  

Local fix

• A temp fix is available from support.
  

Problem summary

• If a user specifies a pattern with
  only #'s, then a value of 0 was
  producing a formatted value of 0
  instead of all spaces
  

Problem conclusion

• Runtime module updated to give all spaces in this circumstance
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  RATL COBOL RT Z

• Fixed component ID

  5655R2900

Applicable component levels

• R038 PSY

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