SQL and ALTSEQ

Is there a way to make SQL respect the DDS ALTSEQ keyword? 

For example, given a table 'TESTFILE' with the following DDS definition: 

A                                          ALTSEQ(QASCII)

A              R RECORD

A                FIELD          4A

A              K FIELD


If I put 3 records into the file, with the values for 'FIELD' of '0001'
'0002' and '000A', the collating sequence specified should index the records
in the following order: 

0001
0002
000A

In RPG a *HIVAL SETGT followed by a READP correctly returns 000A as being
the last record. 

However when attempting access the table with SQL, the ALTSEQ keyword isn't
being respected. 

SELECT MAX(FIELD) FROM TESTFILE 

Results in:

MAX ( FIELD )
    0002     

SELECT FIELD FROM TESTFILE ORDER BY FIELD

Results in: 

FIELD  
000A   
0001   
0002   

Looking at the DB2 manuals it seems that DB2 looks for a collating sequence
specified at database level - not at file level and so is not respecting my
ALTSEQ keyword - can I force it to? 

Thanks in advance,
Stu

Stuart Bramley 
Senior Technical Developer 
Skandia Life::GroupIT 
Southampton 
t: 023 80 72 64 29 e: stu.bramley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
IBM Certified Specialist
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