Re: Binary fields in DB2 and RPG

Joe Pluta wrote:

H EXTBININT(*YES) FVOTES if e disk rename(votes:rvotes)

The listing shows that VOTE is a field of type I:

I A 1 8 SESSIONID I A 9 72 USERID I I 73 76 0VOTE
But the field cross-reference gives me a packed field:
VOTE P(10,0) 5 11D

EXTBININT is in effect, making VOTE 10 digits instead of 9 digits. But the old external vs internal thing is also in effect. The I spec shows how the field is defined externally in the file; it isn't necessarily how it's defined internally in the program. RPG always defaults numeric fields defined on I specs to be packed internally. So VOTE is defined as packed, and the like define is also packed.

You can get around it by defining an externally-described DS for your file. That provides explicit definitions for the fields in your file, so you won't have to rely on RPG's default types.

H EXTBININT(*YES)
FVOTES if e disk rename(votes:rvotes)
add D e ds extname(VOTES)