Symbols used in reports to indicate errors

When QMF cannot display a value in a report, it displays a special symbol in place of the value. The symbol that is displayed depends on the underlying cause.

Refer to the following table for a list of the symbols and their meanings.

Table 1. Error symbols that can appear on QMF forms
Symbol displayed Cause of error
******** The column is not wide enough to display the formatted value. Only numeric columns display this symbol. (Character columns are truncated instead.)
>>>>>>>> The value exceeds the maximum value allowed by the data type for that column. This is called an overflow condition and is usually detected by QMF.
???????? The value is undefined. The following conditions will result in an undefined value in the report:
  • Numeric underflow
  • Numeric overflow detected by the database
  • Dividing a value by zero (in a query, calculation, or column definition)
  • Expressions that REXX is unable to evaluate
  • REXX expressions that evaluate to a nonnumeric value
  • Aggregations calculated using undefined values (except FIRST and LAST)
' ' (blanks) The data has no instance (DSQNOINS) or no relationship (DSQNOREL).