3.1 Handling Missing Records Simply

The following code is very common in reporting programs:

     FETCH      FIELDS(#PRODES) FROM_FILE(PROMST) WITH_KEY(#PRODNO)
     IF_STATUS  IS_NOT(*OKAY)
     CHANGE     FIELD(#PRODES) TO('''N/AVAILABLE''')
     ENDIF

This effectively says, "if you can't find the product's description, print it as N/AVAILABLE".

HOWEVER, the following code will achieve exactly the same result and save 2 lines of coding:

     CHANGE     FIELD(#PRODES) TO('''N/AVAILABLE''')
     FETCH      FIELDS(#PRODES) FROM_FILE(PROMST) WITH_KEY(#PRODNO)

If the FETCH fails to find any details, the product description field will remain unchanged.