Paul Gilmartin's <begin extract> Empty transaction file? Simply supply a null transaction. <end extract>
rather begs the question. Some nuls are or have become unambiguous. A nul string, for example, has a length of zero. A nul file, as in DSN=NULLFILE, contains no record when it is read and contains no record after one is written to it. A nul transaction has, on the other hand, no consensual definition. The systems I know that can handle nul transactions, do nothing gracefully, all employ different conventions for doing so, for representing such a transaction. An operating system that prohibits certain boundary values behaves much like one of the traffic engineers' NO LEFT TURN signs. Instead of solving problems it moves them elsewhere with, usually, duplication of diagnostic machinery. --jg ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
