Decimal Positions Field (Column 37) - IBM 5280 Programmer's Manual

A negative value is entered in the field when the operator,
having entered one or more digits, presses the Field Exit Minus
key.
V Right half only - Only the characters that are defined at system
generation can be entered. The shift is positioned to the lower
right symbols on appropriate keyboards. The shift key allows
entry of the upper right symbols. (See the note below after the
explanation for W.)
W Right half shift - Any character can be entered. The shift is
positioned to the lower right symbols on appropriate keyboards.
The opera tor can change the shift by using the shift keys.
aNote: V and W should be used only for those keyboards with
more than two shift positions (such as the Katanana keyboard).
Don't use these data types in programs that are to be executed
on other keyboards or an unrecoverable error will occur at
execution.
X Alphabetic only - Only the letters A through Z, comma, period,
hyphen, and space can be entered. The shift is positioned to the
lower symbols on all keyboards. The shift cannot be changed by
the opera tor.
Y Numeric only - Only the numbers 0 through 9, comma, period,
plus, minus, and space can be entered. The shift is positioned
to the lower symbols on typewriter keyboards and to the upper
symbols on both the data entry keyboards and the proof
keyboards. The shift cannot be changed by the operator.
A negative value is entered in the field when the operator,
having entered one or more digits, presses the Field Exit Minus
key.
Decimal Positions Field (Column 37)
TT~noo
FiolJ frnl",.,"
~R)
"""'.., .. 6 .....
.a. .......... '''''''" ............ ..,"'/
Leave this field blank if the data is alphabetic. (In the COBOL program, the
data-item created by the field description statement will be defined as
alphanumeric, regardless of what you specify in the Data Type field.)
Enter any value from 0 through 9 to indicate a numeric value. (In the
COBOL program, the data-item created by the field description statement
will be defined as numeric, regardless of what you specify in the Data Type
field.) The 0 through 9 value defines the number of positions to the right of
the decimal point for the data-item. You must also specify a length in the
Length field (columns 30-34).
You needn't make an entry in the Usage field if you already have an entry in
the Usage field of the record statement. However, if you make an entry, it will
override the corresponding entry in the record description statement.
ONote:
If the Usage field of the record description statement is blank, you must
make one of the following valid entries:
o
the field can be used for output only.
B the field can be used for both input and output.
blank the field is to use the default specified in the preceding record
description statement.
2- 18 IBM 5280 COBOL Programmer's Guide