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If you use SAS Component Language (SCL) to create a SAS/AF class and
specify a class attribute for the argument of the MLENGTH function as
in the following example where ATTRSTR is a character attribute of
class X,

   class x;
   dcl char(14) attrstr;

   m:method;
      dcl num len;
      len=mlength(attrstr);
      put len=;
   endmethod;
   endclass;

the CLASS/ENDCLASS statement block may not compile and you may see the
following error messages in the Log window:

   ERROR:  Argument 1 of function MLENGTH must be variable.
   ERROR:  Compile error(s) detected.  No code generated.

Although the MLENGTH function has no effect on the maximum length of a
character attribute when a class is loaded at runtime (see SAS Note
SN002954), you can circumvent this problem by declaring an SCL variable
that is local to the method and whose value is equal to that of the
character attribute.  For example,

   class x;
   dcl char(14) attrstr;

   m:method;
      dcl num len;
      dcl char(14) localstr=_self_.attrstr;
      len=mlength(localstr);
      put len=
   endmethod;
   endclass;

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