Easy answer, NO there is no way to handle "bad data" as input - without either changing the COBOL code or introducing some sort of "validation' routine between the sending web application and the COBOL program.
FYI, Adding an IF NUMERIC test in the COBOL program (at one place - where the data comes in) does NOT add a lot of overhead and WILL guarantee that your program will "always work" (no matter what happens to the input or to future COBOL compilers). This also allows your application to take "specific" actions for bad data - which should help you get the sender to fix their data. FYI - 2, Depending on exactly "how" the input data is bad, there may be ways for COBOL to handle it correctly. For example, spaces in numeric fields can be dealt with by the NumVal intrinsic function. the NOZWB and ZWB compiler options can help with some cases where you want to do different things with sign-nibbles. "Peter Ten Eyck" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>... > I have had some programmers come to me with this issue. It appears that we > have a new system (web app.) which is sending bad data in several locations > to our mainframe (COBOL programs). The proper thing to do is to correct the > web app. so that it send the data correct. While we wait for that fix to occur, I > am looking into if there is a way without changing the COBOL code to catch > this bad data by forcing an abend. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
