ASSERT

General Format

ASSERT condition OTHERWISE value-1 [ value-2 ... value-n ]

Syntax Rules

1.	value-1, value-2 and value-n can be either literals or data items.

General Rules

1.	The ASSERT statement is evaluated only when the program runs with the -ea Java option. In order to take advantage of assertions, you should run the COBOL program with one of the following commands

i.	java -ea PROG

i.	iscrun -J-ea PROG

2.	If condition is true, the program continues to the next statement.

3.	If condition is false, then a java.lang.AssertionError is raised. The error message is set to the combination of the values specified in the OTHERWISE clause.

Examples

Sample to verify age before continue program flow.

assert ws-age > 17 otherwise "Invalid Age" display message "Welcome, your age has been verified!"