SQLLEN of packed field in SQLDA

Hi everyone,

I'm creating a subfile selection screen that uses dynamic SQL to fill the
subfile. The users will be able search by six different fields. Since the
WHERE clause in a SQL string that will be the host variable of a PREPARE
statement cannot contain a host variable, the program specifies an SQLDA on
the USING DESCRIPTOR clause of the cursor OPEN statement to describe a
parameter marker in the prepared statement. Most of it is working but one
problem remains.

Two of the search fields look in file fields that are packed decimal(SQLTYPE
= 484). Chapter 14.8 of the DB2 for AS/400 SQL Programming manual tells me
the first byte of the SQLLEN 2-byte binary field describing the length of a
packed field needs to be (%LEN(srchfld) + 1)/2 and the second byte needs to
be the field's number of decimal positions. But how do I put those values in
specific bytes of a binary field? I've tried to MOVE hex values and to
substring SQLVAR, but I can't get the right values where they need to be.
Have I missed something in the manuals? What's the best technique for doing
this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Roger Mackie