RE: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE

Hi Niels,

%IF does not (yet?!) exist.
But it would be easy to code ... and for different data types the function can be overloaded.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards

Birgitta Hauser
Modernization – Education – Consulting on IBM i
Database and Software Architect  
IBM Champion since 2020

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-----Original Message-----
From: RPG400-L <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Niels Liisberg
Sent: Saturday, 13 December 2025 12:56
To: RPG programming on IBM i <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Why you shouldn't be afraid to use VARCHAR in RPGLE

It's there already: check the %IF

Result = %IF(MyField = 'A' : 'Yes' : 'No'); // Assigns 'Yes' or 'No


On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM Marco Facchinetti < [email protected]> wrote:

> Christmas is approaching and perhaps the compilers' team is in the 
> mood for
> gifts:
>
> https://ibm-power-systems.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IBMI-I-4748
>
> Best regards
> --
> Marco Facchinetti
>
> Mr S.r.l.
>
> Tel. 035 962885
> Cel. 393 9620498
>
> Skype: facchinettimarco
>
>
> Il giorno ven 12 dic 2025 alle ore 18:24 James H. H. Lampert via 
> RPG400-L < [email protected]> ha scritto:
>
> > On 12/10/25 8:04 PM, Barbara Morris wrote:
> >
> > > It's a single pass through the source but it gathers information 
> > > that
> it
> > > can use multiple times.
> > >
> > > The compiler usually allows forward-referencing, so you can code
> LIKE(x)
> > > where x is defined later.
> >
> > Interesting. But note my exact words: "pure single-pass." As in 
> > compiling directly from source to executable in a single pass.
> >
> > Pascal is pure single-pass. Forward-referencing is explicitly 
> > prohibited except for *very* limited circumstances, involving an 
> > *explicit* declaration as such.
> >
> > Then again, when he designed Pascal (purely as a teaching language 
> > for structured programming), Niklaus Wirth had some really stupid 
> > ideas in his head. Like the notion that a FOR loop will always run 
> > to completion under normal circumstances (even though it's trivially 
> > simple to come up with cases in which FOR is the preferred loop 
> > construct, premature exit is the norm, and completion is the exception).
> >
> > --
> > JHHL
> > --
> > This is the RPG programming on IBM i (RPG400-L) mailing list To post 
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