Pathway/iTS SCREEN COBOL Reference Manual (G06.24+, H06.03+, Pathway/iTS 1.0+)

Data Division
Compaq NonStop™ Pathway/iTS SCREEN COBOL Reference Manual—426750-001
5-60
Message Description Entry
Message Description Entry
A message description entry declares the characteristics of a message format. The
message description entry is specified in the Message Section of a SCREEN COBOL
program.
A number of message formats can be defined in the Message Section. Level 01
identifies the beginning of a message format. Subordinate group and elementary data
items can be defined. The subordinate levels define groups or items that are consecutive
fields within the message format.
The structure of the message description entry is similar to that of a data description
entry. The message description entry is a series of declarative sentences, each beginning
with a level number to indicate the hierarchy. A higher number indicates that the entry
is subordinate to the previous entry. The 01 level is the highest statement in the
paragraph. Subordinate entry levels can be any number from 02 through 49.
The syntax of a message description entry is:
message-name
is a user-defined name as described in Section 2, SCREEN COBOL Source
Program.
01-clause
defines the characteristics of the message. Allowable clauses are:
FIELD-DELIMITER
MESSAGE-DELIMITER
MESSAGE FORMAT
PICTURE
RESULTING COUNT
TO/FROM/USING
USER CONVERSION
group-clause
defines the characteristics of the group item. Allowable clauses are:
OCCURS
OCCURS DEPENDING ON
PRESENT IF
USER CONVERSION
MESSAGE SECTION.
01 message-name [ 01-clause... ].
[ level-number {group-name} [ group-clause... ]. ]
[ ]
[ [ level-number {field-name} [ field-clause... ]. ]... ]
[ {FILLER } ]