Strange problem (bug?) varying fields

Hello,

I have a very strange problem using varying fields in RPG. We are running on V7R2.

I 've defined these three fields:


d Wrk_XML s a len(131064) varying
d Wrk_S1 s a len(5000) varying
d Wrk_S2 s a len(5000) varying
I than run the following code. The TestEncode function does not in particular here, but in the real business case I want to do something there. This is just to show te problem.

Wrk_XML = '';
Wrk_S1 = 'Anthonis';
Wrk_S2 = 'Kristof';
Wrk_XML = Wrk_XML + '<Subject>' +
TestEncode(
'LabResult ' +
Wrk_S1 + ' ' + Wrk_S2) +
'</Subject>';
p TestEncode b
d TestEncode pi a len(5000) varying
d pi_s a len(5000) const varying
/free
Return pi_s;
/end-free
p TestEncode e
The result in Wrk_XML = <Subject> t Anthonis Kristof</Subject>
So, that is not correct.

When I change the definition of WRK_XML to

d Wrk_XML s a len(131063) varying

The result in WRK_XML = " <Subject>LabResult Anthonis Kristof</Subject>"
That is correct.

Can anyone explain this: why is this working ok for a length of 131063 or less, and not ok for 131064 and above?

Thanks for any answers!!
Kristof Anthonis