The IDATE internal format used by the dialog variable contains 6 digits representing YYMMDD. The IDATE display format contains 8 characters, including the national language date delimiter character. For the U.S., the format is YY/MM/DD. For input only, ISPF ensures the resulting IDATE internal format value is a valid date. It ensures that the internal value for YY is 00-99, for MM is 01-12 and for DD is 01-31. Validation is also done to check the date for months with fewer than 31 days and for leap years.
The STDDATE internal format used by the dialog variable contains 8 digits representing YYYYMMDD. The STDDATE display format contains 10 characters including the national language date delimiter. For the U.S., the format is YYYY/MM/DD. For input only, ISPF ensures the resulting STDDATE internal value is a valid date. It ensures that the internal value for YYYY is 0000-9999, for MM is 01-12 and for DD is 01-31. Validation is also done to check the date for months with fewer than 31 days and for leap years.
The ITIME internal format used by the dialog variable contains 4 digits representing HHMM. The ITIME display format contains 5 characters including the national language time delimiter. For the U.S., the format is HH:MM. Hours are specified using the 24-hour clock. For input only, ISPF ensures the resulting ITIME internal value is a valid time. It ensures that the internal value for HH is 00-23 and for MM is 00-59.
The STDTIME internal format used by the dialog variable contains 6 digits representing HHMMSS. The STDTIME display format contains 8 characters including the national language time delimiter. For the U.S., the format is HH:MM:SS. Hours are specified using the 24-hour clock. For input only, ISPF ensures the resulting STDTIME internal value is a valid time. It ensures that the internal value for HH is 00-23, for MM is 00-59 and for SS is 00-59.
The JDATE internal format used by the dialog variable contains 5 digits representing YYDDD. The JDATE display format contains 6 characters in the format YY.DDD. For input only, ISPF ensures the resulting JDATE internal value is a valid date. It ensures that the internal value for YY is 00-99 and for DDD is 365. Validation is also done to check for leap years with 366 days.
The JSTD internal format used by the dialog variable contains 7 digits representing YYYYDDD. The JSTD display format contains 8 characters in the format is YYYY.DDD. For input only, ISPF ensures the resulting JSTD internal value is a valid date. It ensures that the internal value for YYYY is 0000-9999 and for DDD is 365. Validation is also done to check for leap years.
When a user enters a value for a variable with a type of either IDATE or STDDATE, it must be entered using the national language date format. It is a good idea to display an explanation of the expected format to the user so that the value is entered properly. ISPF verifies that the value entered is a valid date, and if no errors are found, the national language date format is converted to the internal format before the value is stored in the variable pool.
The data represented by the B, V and special character symbols will be stripped before the data is put into the pool. The specified mask must contain at least one of the symbols A, 9, H, N, or X.
The S symbol must be in the first position to be accepted.