Re: CCSID (I think) problem

["Denis Robitaille" <denis_robitaille@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello guys,

I am the one who initiated this thread. We work around the problem
using FTP script but that does not explain what is going on.

Here is a few more tid bit of information that may help.

When I look at the hex value in the files on the Ontario machine, I
have X'4A' for the braket as we should expect. When I do a CA transfer,
if I do not instruc CA to translate from CCSID 65535 and have the result
sent to the display, I get the Hex value sent (40 for blank space ...)
So if I look where X'4A' should be, I find X'B0'!!! so there is some
translation going on.

Denis Robitaille
Directeur services technique TI
819 363 5187

>>> maillist@dowsoftware.com 08/22/02 04:38pm >>>
Hi Simon,

Why assume that a PC in Canada is using CP1252 (where a cent sign has
a
codepoint of x'A2')?  Wouldn't CP863, Canadian French for the IBM PC
(where
a cent sign has a codepoint of x'9B'), be just as likely?  Not that
this
explains what's happening.

Also, CAExpress downloads typically do not translate if the CCSID is
65535
unless specifically told to do so (a property of the transfer
definition);
one more piece of information we need.

Peter Dow
Dow Software Services, Inc.
909 793-9050 voice
909 522-3214 cellular
909 793-4480 fax


----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Coulter" <shc@flybynight.com.au>
Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 12:18 AM
Subject: Re: CCSID (I think) problem


Since the file is being downloaded to a PC we can guess that it is
some
dialect of WinDOS and therefore probably using codepage 1252
(Latin-1).

We can presume that since the host system has a CCSID of 65535 then
the
file is probably also 65535.

He says the data is generated on the CP37 Ontario AS/400 and
downloaded
to the PC in Quebec and this download 'corrupts' the square bracket.

He says if the data is (generated?? sent??) to the Quebec CP500 AS/400
it
downloads correctly.

A left-square-bracket in CP37 is x'BA', in CP500 it is x'4A', and in
CP1252 it is x'5B'.  I do not see how a square bracket can become a
'cent' sign in this instance.

If a left-square-bracket were created on CP37 it should have code
point
x'BA'.  If a 'cent' sign were created on CP37 it should have code
point
x'4A'.  Interestingly that is the same codepoint as used for the
left-square-bracket in CP500.  So if a file with CCSID 65535 containing
a
CP37 'cent' sign were sent to a CP500 AS/400 it would display as a
left-square-bracket.  If that file were then sent to a PC it should
appear on the PC as a left-square-bracket because CA will attempt to
guess the correct conversion tables.

Even allowing for the alternate set of square brackets (x'AD' and
x'BD)
doesn't account for the observed behaviour.  There is more going on
here
than is immediately apparent and we need more information to explain
the
behaviour.