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Q233544: Certain Invalid Date Fields Are Converted to Valid Dates

Article: Q233544
Product(s): Microsoft SNA Server
Version(s): WINDOWS:4.0 SP2,4.0SP2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsna400sp2
Last Modified: 05-APR-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft COM Transaction Integrator for CICS and IMS, version 4.0 SP2 
- Microsoft SNA Server, version 4.0SP2 
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SYMPTOMS
========

A variable defined as COBOL type PICTURE 9(7) COMPUTATIONAL-3 (packed decimal)
may contain a value to be converted to an automation type of "Date." This
article relates to only the case where "Date only" is specified in the COM
Transaction Integrator for CICS and IMS (COMTI) Component Builder (CB). That
means the field contains a date value, but no time value.

Certain values placed in the COBOL variable are not converted by COMTI runtime as
might be expected. For example, if 0x00000000 (nulls, or LOW-VALUES) are
assigned to the variable by the COBOL program, the date, 12/31/1999, is returned
to a Visual Basic client.

In another example, the value, +50, assigned by the COBOL program is returned to
VB client as the date 2/19/2000. In yet another example, assigning 0x0000001f to
the COBOL variable yielded the date 1/1/2000.

WORKAROUND
==========

Assign a valid Julian date to the variable in the COBOL program, in the format,
YYYYDDDx, where YYYY is the century and year, DDD is the day of the year, and x
is not used.

On the mainframe, the x is actually the sign of the decimal number. It is not
used by COMTI when converting the date to the automation type.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft SNA Server version
4.0.


Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbsna400sp2 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbSNAServSearch kbCOMTISearch kbCOMTI400SP2
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0 SP2,4.0SP2
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbnofix

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