1. A method for operating a data processing system to process a record, said method including defining a plurality of ALTERNATIVE statements, each ALTERNATIVE statement of said plurality of ALTERNATIVE statements comprising: a label that identifies said ALTERNATIVE statement; a signature that defines a test that is to be performed on a first field in said record; and a NEXT statement that identifies a different one of said ALTERNATIVE statements and that defines a second field in said data record to be said first field in said different one of said ALTERNATIVE statements if said test is satisfied, said data processing system generating an error if said test is not satisfied, wherein said first and second fields are different in at least one of said ALTERNATIVE statements and wherein said NEXT statement in one of said ALTERNATIVE statements specifies a plurality of fields for testing in a predetermined sequence by other ALTERNATIVE statements in a processing program, control being transferred to the first one of said other ALTERNATIVE statements in said predetermined sequence in which said test in that one of said other ALTERNATIVE statements is satisfied.
1. A method for operating a data processing system to process a record, said method including defining a plurality of ALTERNATIVE statements, each ALTERNATIVE statement of said plurality of ALTERNATIVE statements comprising: a label that identifies said ALTERNATIVE statement; a signature that defines a test that is to be performed on a first field in said record; and a NEXT statement that identifies a different one of said ALTERNATIVE statements and that defines a second field in said data record to be said first field in said different one of said ALTERNATIVE statements if said test is satisfied, said data processing system generating an error if said test is not satisfied, wherein said first and second fields are different in at least one of said ALTERNATIVE statements and wherein said NEXT statement in one of said ALTERNATIVE statements specifies a plurality of fields for testing in a predetermined sequence by other ALTERNATIVE statements in a processing program, control being transferred to the first one of said other ALTERNATIVE statements in said predetermined sequence in which said test in that one of said other ALTERNATIVE statements is satisfied. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said field in one of said NEXT statements is defined by a window length or a window offset that is specified by a computation that is defined in said ALTERNATIVE statement.