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PreImageDAL

Use this section level rule to execute a DAL script on the PRE_PROC_B message. The PreImageDAL rule executes before section or field level rules.

You can use this rule to handle setup tasks which should occur before section and field level rules are executed.

Syntax

PreImageDAL (String)

Parameter

Description

   

String

A character string that contains a DAL function or DAL script.

Although you can use DAL to access almost any form set or section field, keep in mind those fields may not exist, depending on where you place this rule in the transaction job rule list. And, unlike the DAL or IF rules, there is no return value from the execution of a section level DAL script.

Use this form to get extract data if the script is contained in the rule data. You cannot use this form in external script files.

A = {1,MIS257 138,1}

Where A is a DAL variable you wish to assign. The bracketed {} item can be almost any standard search mask supported by the Get Record infrastructure. In this case, 1,MIS257 is the search criteria. If the record is found, the system takes the data from position 138, length 1 as indicated by 138,1.

This method also lets you specify an occurrence of the record by including a hyphen with a numeric value, such as -n, after the data length. Here is an example:

A = {1,MIS257 138,1-5}

Here the function searches for the 5th occurrence of the 1,MIS257 record. If you omit the occurrence, the system returns the first one found. If it cannot find the requested record, the system assigns the variable an empty “” value.

     
Note To specify multiple DAL statements in the rule data area, separate the DAL statements using two colons (::). Normally, semicolons separate DAL statements, but this character is illegal in the rule data area.

See also