Re: how to use CCSID info to get corresponding data as normal

Maybe I need to give a brief explanation first:
 
These fields below are actually fields in audit journal entries(in entry 
specific data portion), just to get an idea of what I am saying, see IBM 
security reference, Appendix "Layout of journal entries", table for each entry 
type. In some of the entry types, information is given about the field length, 
field CCSID and Field data. I am trying to figure out if I need to do something 
special if CCSID info is given.
 
>> I am given with the following information:
>> - Field length, Binary(4)
>>- Field CCSID, Binary(5)
>>- Field Data, char(100)
>There's no such data type as BINARY(5).  Someone is very confused.
 
What I understood is : BINARY means the value needs to be interpreted as raw 
data. Like say Binary(4), a sequence of 4 bytes, we interpret as integer, 
similarly Binary(5) is a sequence of 5 bytes representing a number, in my case, 
when printed as hex value the CCSID field is 00 00 00 25 00. 
 
>> The above field data is encoded using CCSID given by Field CCSID. How 
do 
>> I get corresponding data in normal English form? Any pointers to APIs 
>> would be greatly appreciated.
>What do you consider to be "normal" English form?  What form is the 
data 
>in now?  (Note that CCSID only specifies a character set, not a 
language.)
 
I'm sorry, maybe I got a bit confused here. I will reframe the question: Right 
now when I see the data using printf, it's printed in plain english(for eg: 
"CHKUSAGE") even though a separate CCSID is given. So I can use it easily 
inside the program, my purpose is solved. But just for the sake of info: the 
system gives me a sequence of bytes saying these bytes are in CCSID xxxxx. This 
means these bytes represent whatever they do only in the given CCSID. Now if I 
transfer these sequence of bytes to another country say from US to UK which 
uses different CCSID, the same sequence of bytes would represent something else 
in UK than whatever was in US. To get the right information, I will have to 
convert these sequence of bytes (US) to corresponding sequence of bytes (UK) so 
that the data would mean the same at both ends. Did I understand this right? If 
so, is there any API which does this and how do I use it? I have seen 
iconv_xxx() set of functions. Are these the ones to be used?
 
- P.Prasad
 

> Similarly, I am given with another set of information:
> - Field length, Binary(4)
> - Field CCSID, Binary(5)
> - Field Country or Region ID, char(2)
> - Field Language ID, char(3)
> - Field Data, char(100)
>
> In the above information, Region ID and Language ID are also given, 
how 
> are these to be used to convert the Field data into a usable form?
Again, you have BINARY(5) which doesn't exist. (It has to be 2, 4 or 8) 
Where is the data now?  What format is it currently in?  Does the 
software 
that's passing you the above fiedls have a facility for character set 
translation, or do you have to do this manually?
If you're talking about info retrieved from an IBM API, please tell us 
which API. They're all different, and I'd rather not take a blind guess 
at 
what youi mean.
> What would happen if I just use the CCSID, length, data portion and 
the 
> API for the first scenario ignoring the Region ID and Language ID?
CCSID is just a character set.  It's a set of letters, numbers and 
other 
symbols that can be displayed on a screen.  It does not tell you which 
language the text is in.

                
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