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IBM believes that the request described has been solved and is available with the enhancement for the SORTA operation code to specify the sort subfields using %FIELDS. This enhancement is available for 7.3 and 7.4 with PTFs.
For 7.3, you need PTF 5770WDS SI77165.
For 7.4, you need PTF 5770WDS SI77166.
For 7.4 TGTRLS(V7R3M0), you need PTF 5770WDS SI77167.
For more information, see https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6481975.
The CAAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a medium priority requirement that should be addressed. This continues the process of making RPG more consistent with other languages.
Background: The COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CAAC has a key role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community, and has therefore reviewed your RFE.
For more information about CAAC, see www.common.org/caac
Nancy Uthke-Schmucki - CAAC Program Manager
Thanks, Barbara - I figured there would be limitations - and next time I'll spell "contiguous" correctly - not sure what "con-chuh-gus" is!
And QSORT can always accomplish the goal, albeit with some effort. Something more native could be useful.
Vern, you can do that, but be careful to only include subfields where the sort order is the same when the data is sorted by its hex value. Some types don't sort correctly by their hex value. For example, the length would get included in the sort for varying length fields, dates with any format except *ISO wouldn't sort correctly, packed and zoned numeric fields wouldn't sort correctly if there might be negative values.
Much safer to call QSORT, or even to write your own sort loop.
I am going to ask about a situation that is not covering every case - can an subfield that overlays contiugous subfields you want to sort on, can it be used in SORTA?
The CEAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a MEDIUM priority requirement that should be addressed.
Background: The COMMON Europe Advisory Council (CEAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CEAC has a crucial role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community and has therefore reviewed your RFE.
To find out how CEAC help to shape the future of IBM i, see CEAC @ ibm.biz/BdYSYj and the article "The Five Hottest IBM i RFEs Of The Quarter" at ibm.biz/BdYSZT
Therese Eaton – CEAC Program Manager, IBM
IBM will use this request as input to planning but no commitment is made or implied. This request will be updated in the future if IBM implements it. IBM will use votes and comments from others in the community to help prioritize this request.
Peder, I think it would be much easier for an RPG programmer to code the SORTA with the list of subfields than to write a separate compare procedure. But the separate compare procedure would be useful if you wanted to compare some subfields descending and some ascending, or you wanted to do other types of special comparisons. So I think both ideas are good.
I suggested the possibility to implement a compare procedure for %lookup and sorta here:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=115361
It would solve the problem you mention in this RFE and would be much easier to code and implement IMHO.