Indicator Arrays

Just as an indicator variable is used as a companion to a host variable, use an indicator array as a companion to a host array to indicate the null status of each returned row or to store data truncation warning flags.

Note: COBSQL supports indicator arrays with Oracle databases only.

Example

In this example, an indicator array is set to -1 so that it can be used to insert null values into a column:

 01 ix                       PIC 99 COMP-5.
   . . .
 EXEC SQL
     BEGIN DECLARE SECTION
 END-EXEC
 01 sales-id       OCCURS 25 TIMES PIC X(12).
 01 sales-name     OCCURS 25 TIMES PIC X(40).
 01 sales-comm     OCCURS 25 TIMES PIC S9(9) COMP-5.
 01 ind-comm       OCCURS 25 TIMES PIC S9(4) COMP-5.
 EXEC SQL
     END DECLARE SECTION
 END-EXEC.
  . . .
     PERFORM VARYING iX FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL ix > 25
         MOVE -1 TO ind-comm (ix)
     END-PERFORM.
      . . .
     EXEC SQL
         INSERT INTO SALES (ID, NAME, COMM)
           VALUES (:sales_id, :sales_name, :sales_comm:ind-comm)
     END-EXEC