Important Notice

The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

 ◄Key►                                       ◄Up► ◄Contents► ◄Index► ◄Back►
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
  Message:      0217
 
  Text:         Preceding item at this level has zero length
 
  Explanation:  You have defined a data item but have failed to give
                it a size, either by not using a PICTURE clause in
                conjunction with it, or, if it is a group item, by
                failing to define any elementary items to go with it. If you
                enter something similar to:
 
                   01 my-data-item.
                   01 prog-data-item   pic x.
 
                you will receive this message after prog-data-item
                because, although it is my-data-item that is in error, the
                error is detected only when the next item at the same
                level as the data-item in error is encountered.
 
  Resolution:   Add the necessary PICTURE clause or elementary items to
                the level hierarchy.
                                    -♦-