#1252 Report Writer Limitation

[Fred Heine]

I am disappointed with the limits of the SOURCE statement. It should support more of the MOVE verb's capabilities. It should at least recognize literals ('literal' or "literal") . It should also support complex indexes (data-name(idx1,idx2). I am a retired programmer with 50 years of experience. It can't be difficult to look at the compiler's code for MOVE and SOURCE and have SOURCE use MOVE's code.

[Vincent (Bryan) Coen]

1. Why use a literal under source why not VALUE or FROM.
2. Indexes is a bit of a pain but any such treatment can be complex. In my case for a report that can contain multi instances of a table I had to use IF PRESENT for each separate report line.
   It could have been useful to have the VARYING verb available but sadly isn't.

As for using MOVE for sources - I suspect it does just that, it is just the RW feature is a bit restrictive but if you have some spare time why not look into the RW codebase and sort it out.
All source code is available for the compiler as standard.

No, don't look at me I have not used C in close to 20 years and at 79 have no time to relearn it other than look at existing code.

[Fred Heine]

I have nothing but time. I am writing COBOL programs as a hobby. How can I download the source because I want to improve Report Writer to add more potential.

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From: bugs@gnucobol.p.re.sourceforge.net bugs@gnucobol.p.re.sourceforge.net on behalf of Vincent (Bryan) Coen vcoen@users.sourceforge.net
Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2026 1:44 PM
To: [gnucobol:bugs] 1252@bugs.gnucobol.p.re.sourceforge.net
Subject: [gnucobol:bugs] #1252 Report Writer Limitation

1. Why use a literal under source why not VALUE or FROM.
2. Indexes is a bit of a pain but any such treatment can be complex. In my case for a report that can contain multi instances of a table I had to use IF PRESENT for each separate report line.
   It could have been useful to have the VARYING verb available but sadly isn't.

As for using MOVE for sources - I suspect it does just that, it is just the RW feature is a bit restrictive but if you have some spare time why not look into the RW codebase and sort it out.
All source code is available for the compiler as standard.

No, don't look at me I have not used C in close to 20 years and at 79 have no time to relearn it other than look at existing code.

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[bugs:#1252]https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/bugs/1252/ Report Writer Limitation

Status: open
Group: unclassified
Labels: report writer source
Created: Sat Sep 05, 2026 05:01 PM UTC by Fred Heine
Last Updated: Sat Sep 05, 2026 05:01 PM UTC
Owner: nobody

I am disappointed with the limits of the SOURCE statement. It should support more of the MOVE verb's capabilities. It should at least recognize literals ('literal' or "literal") . It should also support complex indexes (data-name(idx1,idx2). I am a retired programmer with 50 years of experience. It can't be difficult to look at the compiler's code for MOVE and SOURCE and have SOURCE use MOVE's code.

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[Mickey White]

Welcome to GnuCOBOL Fred! Are you using Mac/Windows/Linux ?
The source code is in the SVN selection from the home page:
https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/code/HEAD/tree/branches/gnucobol-3.x/

[Fred Heine]

Thanks. I have been using Windows but at a later time, I will get back to Ubuntu. Windows is keeping me busy enough.

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From: bugs@gnucobol.p.re.sourceforge.net bugs@gnucobol.p.re.sourceforge.net on behalf of Mickey White jamesbwhite@users.sourceforge.net
Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2026 2:43 PM
To: [gnucobol:bugs] 1252@bugs.gnucobol.p.re.sourceforge.net
Subject: [gnucobol:bugs] Re: #1252 Report Writer Limitation

Welcome to GnuCOBOL Fred! Are you using Mac/Windows/Linux ?
The source code is in the SVN selection from the home page:
https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/code/HEAD/tree/branches/gnucobol-3.x/

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[bugs:#1252]https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/bugs/1252/ Report Writer Limitation

Status: open
Group: unclassified
Labels: report writer source
Created: Sat Sep 05, 2026 05:01 PM UTC by Fred Heine
Last Updated: Sat Sep 05, 2026 05:44 PM UTC
Owner: nobody

I am disappointed with the limits of the SOURCE statement. It should support more of the MOVE verb's capabilities. It should at least recognize literals ('literal' or "literal") . It should also support complex indexes (data-name(idx1,idx2). I am a retired programmer with 50 years of experience. It can't be difficult to look at the compiler's code for MOVE and SOURCE and have SOURCE use MOVE's code.

---

Sent from sourceforge.net because you indicated interest in https://sourceforge.net/p/gnucobol/bugs/1252/

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[Mickey White]

So have you taken the Windows version for a spin?