Doug I would check the length before using the SGET even though R:Base isn't complaining about it now it may in future updates.
Buddy -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Doug Hamilton Sent: Friday, March 06, 2015 6:30 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - SGET best practices This is a question on best practices and prudent programming. I'm importing text data from a Big Company for updating a client's item table. It's a fixed field text file and the specs for the data file specify max line length of 700 characters. The test file I'm using is 15K lines (8.5 Mb). I import the data into a temp table: CREATE TEMP TABLE `RawPkgSpecTmp` + (`RowNbr` INTEGER, + `PkgSpecData` TEXT (700), + `ColLength` = (SLEN(PkgSpecData)) INTEGER) AUTONUM RowNbr IN RawPkgSpecTmp USING 1 --Load data LOAD RawPkgSpecTmp FROM PkgSpec.TXT + AS FORMATTED USING PkgSpecData 1 700 I cursor through the RawPkgSpecTmp table a row at a time for processing, loading the column PkgSpecData into the variable vPkgSpecData, then using SGETs to extract relevant data. Most of the rows are 446 characters, I assume there's a CR at the end of the data, not position 700. Occasionally the data length is 668 characters and there is a clump of data at position 661 that I need. So the question is: Is it safe to always do a SET VAR vXtraPartNbr = (SGET(.vPkgSpecData,8,661)) even if there are only 446 characters in vPkgSpecData? Or, for safety, should I check the length of the row first: IF vColLength = 668 THEN SET VAR vXtraPartNbr = (SGET(.vPkgSpecData,8,661)) ENDI to make sure I'm not wandering off into the data-hinterlands that could back to bite me someday? R:Base doesn't seem to mind - vXtraPartNbr is an expected null when the data is short and there aren't any apparent issues, messages or error messages. Just asking, FMI. Doug p.s. This question came about because I was getting "Out of Dynamic Space" errors. The error was related to a subsequent command and totally unrelated to the SGET. But it got me wondering...
