LEN

LEN is always required for EXTRAs of type TEXT or NUMBER.

When EXTRA is of type TEXT, LEN expresses the maximum number of characters the user is allowed to enter interactively. If an application provides a value for the EXTRA variable, the LEN property is ignored.

When EXTRA is of type NUMBER, LEN expresses the number of digits (between 1 and 15) and decimal positions in the value. These values must be separated by a space.

The behaviour depends on how the value for the EXTRA NUMBER is provided:

• When the application provides the value, the number of digits is ignored and the number is interpreted as an integral number, and the last digits are interpreted as decimal positions.
• When the user is interactively queried for a value the LEN keyword restricts the range of input values.

Example is provided here.

EXTRA NUMBER number_variable  
   LEN (5 3)

This example specifies a variable with 5 digits and 3 decimals.

If an application provides the value 12345678, this is interpreted as 12345.678.

If the user provides a value interactively, the form restricts the answer to a value between -99.999 and 99.999.