A — add a new format

If you specify option A and a format name, the Format Definition panel (Figure 1) is displayed.

Figure 1. Format Definition panel (ISRFM02)

                          Format Definition (FORM01)
                                                                    More:     +

  Field   Start   Field   Field        Field   Start   Field   Field
  Number  Column  Length  Type         Number  Column  Length  Type
     1    00000     00                    2    00000     00       
     3    00000     00                    4    00000     00       
     5    00000     00                    6    00000     00       
     7    00000     00                    8    00000     00       
     9    00000     00                   10    00000     00       
    11    00000     00                   12    00000     00       
    13    00000     00                   14    00000     00       
    15    00000     00                   16    00000     00       
    17    00000     00                   18    00000     00       
    19    00000     00                   20    00000     00       

  Field Number: Identifies the field position on the screen.
  Start Column: From 1 to 32760; Specifies column position in the record.
  field Length: From 1 to 71; Fields must not overlap.
  Field Type  : E - single-byte, D - double-byte,  M - mixed data

  Enter the END command to exit and save the format.
 Command ===>                                                                 
  F1=Help    F2=Split   F3=Exit    F9=Swap   F12=Cancel

A field definition includes:

Field Number

The number of the field for which you are defining a format. You can define up to 20 fields.

Start Column

Starting column position in the record.

Field Length

Field length in bytes; the maximum is 71 bytes.

Field Type

The type of data that can be entered in the field. Valid types are:

E: EBCDIC (single-byte)
D: DBCS (double-byte)
M: Mixed data

Note: All three of these field types can contain extended graphics characters. CAPS ON processing is not possible because of context dependencies. Therefore, it is ignored when you are editing formatted data.

The format definition information applies to both existing records and inserted records in a data set.

Note: It is recommended that you avoid using STD or COBOL formats with numbered data. The results can be different from using formats with unnumbered data. If you must use numbered data, do not define the columns the sequence numbers will appear in, or define an EBCDIC or mixed data field for them.