decimalChar

Valid in all scopes

(local scope invalid when staticNumericChars=true)

The value of this configuration variable tells Tango Server what character is used as the decimal character in numbers. In the US, the period, ".", is normally used for this purpose. Only a single character may be assigned to decimalChar. If a longer value is assigned to decimalChar, only the first character is used.

Tango Server uses this value in order to properly evaluate numbers in conditional comparisons (Branch action, <@IF>, and <@IFEQUAL>) and in calculations performed with <@CALC>. The setting is also used when Tango Server is constructing SQL for Search, Insert, Update, and Delete actions. If necessary, Tango automatically converts values specified for numeric columns to use the decimal character required by the DBMS.

Use the <@DSNUM> meta tag to perform the same function on numbers you specify in Direct DBMS actions.

Tango uses this setting to format any numeric values retrieved from a data source.

The default value of decimalChar is "." (a period).

decimalChar and Scope

For more information, see "staticNumericChars".

When staticNumericChars has the value TRUE (the default), changing the value of decimalChar has no effect during the execution of an application file. Changes to decimalChar in user, domain, or system scope take effect with the next application file execution; as a consequence, changes to decimalChar in local scope have no effect.

See "Understanding Scope" in Chapter 7 of the User's Guide.

When staticNumericChars has the value FALSE, decimalChar works with scope in the standard way.

See Also

currencyChar
DBDecimalChar
<@DSDATE>, <@DSTIME>, <@DSTIMESTAMP>
<@DSNUM>
staticNumericChars
thousandsChar