Using *SYSTEMVAL

[Rich `Lego-Man' Jesse - 7633]

David Frederick replies:

DF>    Something else I just thought of... your DEFINE idea would probably work
DF>    if you made sure to reference the defined variable somewhere.  For
DF>    example:
DF>
DF>        OUTPUT datafilename ADD IF DUMMY_VALUE = " "
DF>
DF>    I believe QTP will not evaluate defined items that are never referenced,
DF>    which probably explains why your logical name was not set.  A potential
DF>    downside is that the logical name may be set for each transaction (I may
DF>    be wrong on that).
DF>
DF>    Another idea, which may be the best and more flexible than a GLOBAL
DF>    TEMP, is to use a TEMPORARY and ITEM statement within the request you
DF>    want the defined value in.  Example:
DF>
DF>        TEMPORARY DUMMY_VALUE CHAR*1
DF>        ITEM DUMMY_VALUE = "1" IF SETSYSTEMVAL("DCL_LOGNAME, "VALUE")
DF>
DF>    I haven't tried this, but it should work.
DF>
DF>    To answer your last question, I believe I found the solution through
DF>    experimenting.  You're right... the manuals are pretty vague on the
DF>    topic.

We have a winner!  Thanks, David!  :)  The explanation of the way QTP may not
evaluate an unreferenced defined item seems to be a valid one.  After some more
RTFMing, I found the reason QUIZ and QTP act differently here.  QTP only
calculates DEFINEd items as they are referenced, whereas QUIZ calculates them
per record complex.  The TEMP/ITEM combo works like a charm for QTP.

On to the next hurdle...  ;)   THANKS AGAIN!  :)

Rich Jesse                              Programmer/Analyst
rjesse@qtiworld.com                     Quad/Tech International, Sussex, WI USA