RE: valid 5250 character set

I had the same issue... the source was data (orders usually) outside our system.
CSV, XML, JSON, even EDI docs

It's amazing what some browser applications will allow to be keyed into a note/message field.

Anyway, I have a service pgm for "text" utilities... I created a function I called Txt_EscNonDsp that basically strips out stuff that can't be displayed on a typical 5250 screen, replacing them with a space.

dcl-proc Txt_EscNonDsp Export;

dcl-pi Txt_EscNonDsp varchar(1024);
inChar varchar(1024) const;
end-pi;

dcl-c nondsp const(x'000102030405060708090A0B0C0D0E0F-
101112131415161718191A1B1C1D1E1F-
202122232425262728292A2B2C2D2E2F-
303132333435363738393A3B3C3D3E3F-
41');
dcl-s space char(%size(nondsp));
dcl-s result varchar(1024);

result = %trim(inchar);
result = %xlate(nondsp:space:result);

return result;

end-proc;

Seems to work pretty good for me.

HTH
Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Mark Villa
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 1:42 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: valid 5250 character set

Thank you for the help, we are getting a variety of invalid characters from
various sources, as you know, we can store in a field just fine but
displaying it through normal screen DSPF is limited to a valid set of
characters. I am assuming these characters can cause the printer to hang
from time to time also, but I don't really know of a case. I am
definitely going to need to review the reference, it would be nice to have
an automatic filter for bad data.

On Tue, May 31, 2022 at 1:09 PM James H. H. Lampert via MIDRANGE-L <
midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 5/31/22 9:32 AM, Mark Villa wrote:

Trying to avoid "Invalid Data" on the 5250 display

Rob brings up a valid point. My previous answer assumed you are *not*
attempting to build a 5250 data stream "from scratch," but are instead
letting the operating system build it for you, e.g., using a display file.

How low-level do you need to go? A 5250 is not a Lear ADM-3, or even a
DEC VT-100. Building a 5250 data stream from scratch ("User-Defined") is
*not* for the faint of heart.

--
JHHL
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