RE: EBCDIC - ASCII translation problems with the ! character

[qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Tom Liotta)]

Mike:

Maybe the problem is that there is no problem with the translation. It is 
translating correctly; perhaps you're simply not viewing it "correctly". You're 
possibly viewing it through devices that are using different character sets for 
the same code page. Or possibly you aren't translating to the code page you 
should be.

Early on, you say "The variable $$Html32K then contains EBCDIC characters." But 
I'm not sure that's a fully correct way to say it. I think it's better to say 
"The variable $$Html32K then contains EBCDIC code page values." I think the 
'characters' will be determined by the character set that's used to display 
that code page. Of course, there're apparently more than just one 'EBCDIC' code 
page; for example, there's English code page 37 and there's Multinational code 
page 500 both of which seem to be 'EBCDIC' in some way.

Which are you using? And which character sets? To start, what do your system 
values QCCSID, QCHRID and QCHRIDCTL contain? Other elements such as device 
description can further complicate things, but first things first.

Tom Liotta


rpg400-l-request@midrange.com wrote:

>   1. EBCDIC - ASCII translation problems with the ! character (Mike Silvers)
>
>I am having problems in the translation of the ! character.  Here is the
>scenario:
>
>I have an ASCII file on the IFS.  I read the file into an RPG variable and
>translate the ASCII character to EBCDIC using the following call:
>
> *
> * Translate from ASCII to EBCDIC
> *
>C                   Eval      pworkfld = %Len(%Trimr($$Html32K))
>C                   Call      'QDCXLATE'
>C                   Parm                    pWorkFld
>C                   Parm                    $$Html32K
>C                   Parm                    AtoETable
>C                   Parm                    XLateLib
>
>The AtoETable is a constant with the value QEBCDIC and the XLateLib is a
>constant with the value *LIBL.
>
>The variable $$Html32K then contains EBCDIC characters.  There is one
>character at this point that was a problem.  The exclamation point (!) was
>translated incorrectly to a | character.  I do a an XLate to change the |
>character back to a !.  I then do some manipulation of the file.  After the
>manipulation, I convert the EBCDIC characters to ASCII characters using the
>following call:
>
> *
> * Translate from EBCDIC to ASCII
> *
>C                   Eval      pworkfld = %Len(%Trimr($$Html32K))
>C                   Call      'QDCXLATE'
>C                   Parm                    pWorkFld
>C                   Parm                    $$Html32K
>C                   Parm                    EtoATable
>C                   Parm                    XLateLib
>
>The EtoATable is a constant with the value QASCII.
>
>When I look at the file using a text editor, the ! character was converted
>to a ] character.
>
>Any ideas on how to prevent the translation problem?

--
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertechgroup.com


__________________________________________________________________
The NEW Netscape 7.0 browser is now available. Upgrade now! 
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp

Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at 
http://webmail.netscape.com/