I thought I would share with you a method I found for comparing field differences.
Problem: decide if I need to insert a record into a previous address history file via action in a stored procedure. I was working an this complex IF statement to determine it the SYS_NEW record was different that SYS_OLD record. Say for a field such as HMainAddressLn. If you have SELECT HMainAddressLn INTO NHMainAddressLn INDICATOR NIvMainAddress FROM ... WHERE CURRENT OF SYS_NEW; SELECT HMainAddressLn INTO PHMainAddressLn INDICATOR PIvMainAddress FROM ... WHERE CURRENT OF SYS_OLD. I was writing the following: IF ((NHMainAddressLn <> .PHMainAddressLn) OR + (NHMainAddressLn IS NOT NULL AND PHMainAddressLn IS NULL) OR + (NHMainAddressLn IS NULL AND PHMainAddressLn IS NOT NULL)) OR + ... SAME TEST REPEATED FOR ADDITIONAL FIELDS ... THEN SET VAR VFieldsAreDif = 'YES' ENDIF Think of repeating that for up to 8 fields. Upon review of documentation, it dawned on me that I could use the indicator variables in place of the NULL/NOT NULL tests. The indicator variables will ALWAYS be set to 0 if NOT NULL and -1 if NULL. Thus a test works in place of the above null tests: n=0 <> p=0 both have value = OK n=-1 <> p=-1 both null = OK n=0 <> p=-1 field is Different n=-1 <> p=0 field is Different IF NHMainAddressLn <> .PHMainAddressLn OR + NIvMainAddress <> .PIvMainAddress OR + ... SAME TEST REPEATED FOR ADDITIONAL FIELDS ... THEN SET VAR VFieldsAreDif = 'YES' ENDIF I hope this offers some help in simplifying your coding. Jim Bentley Jim Bentley American Celiac Society [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 1-504-737-3293 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
