iconv problems, use ASCII characters.

Dear All,

I am in a bit of a jam, otherwise I would continue lurking like I usually
do.

I am wanting to use ASCII character strings internally in a C module I am
working on. When I compile it with a target CCSID of any of a few ASCII
CCSID's, the compiler tells me "ASCII target CCSID is not allowed." (message
ID CZS2117). I did not notice this message prior to V5R1M0, but I could have
overlooked it in the earlier stuff I was doing. Is there a way to use ASCII
or Unicode or some character set other than EBCDIC internally in C modules
on the AS/400?

Failing to get the compiler to automatically use ASCII strings, I tried to
use the iconv Code Conversion API. After a couple false starts, I get it to
return with no errors, but my output buffer is still filled with null
characters (unchanged from its allocated state). Does anyone have experience
using the iconv API or have a better method for translating strings between
character sets?

I will probably end up calling QDCXLATE if it turns out I cannot figure this
one out, but it seems that there should be a better way to accomplish this
task.

Thanks in advance,

Glenn Howald
Programmer/Analyst
Gateway Software Corporation