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When CCSID Constants Vary, Part II

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Don't let a small thing like a literal string completely ruin your multi-national program.

 

The variations of CCSID are a vast topic and are in fact the main issue to consider during globalization of an application. You will find many pages on the Web on this topic (search for Unicode, CCSID, globalization, or national language support). Some of the most interesting are the ones from the IBM i Information Center.

 

In my previous article, I showed how a simple line of RPG code can turn a program haywire just because the JOB CCSID has changed. In this article, I will explain how to handle literal strings, which are sensitive to CCSID variations.

 

This simple line of RPG code made my MAIL program misbehave because the literal string '@' is hard-coded in the source code:

 

// * one @ is mandatory

i = %scan ('@':email);

 

 

The Coded Character Set Identifier (CCSID) is a table that assigns hexadecimal codes to a list of pictures (the picture of each printable character). Click for an example. This list of pictures is called the character set.

 

For more information about characters, globalization, and the i, have a look at the V5R2 iSeries Information Center. Yes, I said V5R2! Globalization is not really a new problem.

 

The character set decomposes itself in three parts:

 

  • The invariant character set
  • The portable character set
  • The remainder

 

The invariant character set is composed of the following characters:

 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 - % & ( ) * , . / : ; ? _ ' " + < = > a A b B c C d D e E f F g G h H i I j J k K l L m M n N o O p P q Qr R s S t T u U v V w W x X y Y z Z

 

These characters almost always have the same hexadecimal code (there are some exceptions).

 

The invariant character set is named CCSID(640). The CCSID(640) contains all these characters, and solely these.

 

The portable character set is the character set that makes the C compilers crazy, in particular in the UNIX world. Details are in V5R2 iSeries Information Center

 

It is composed of these 13 characters: $^ ~ #@ [\] {|}! and the accent grave (`). Note: Wikipedia includes the invariant CSet into the portable CSet.

About My RPG Programs

  • In the MAIL program, the "at" sign @ is an issue.
  • In the PDF-generation program, the brackets ([ and ]) are an issue.
  • In the RTF-generation program, the braces ({ and }) are an issue.

 

All these characters are in the portable character set. The solution consists, therefore, in determining the correct value of the constants for the program, according to the CCSID of the job.

 

Constants can vary? Yes. Hence the title of this series of articles.

 

In all programs, in all constants, must appear only the characters that are in the invariant character set—what makes them effectively constants.

 

Yes, but for my @, what to do?

How Do I Fix the Problem?

To fix this problem, I need to have a correct @—that is, the correct hexadecimal value that corresponds to the @, depending on the actual CCSID of the job. Once I have the correct hexadecimal code of the @, I will be able to verify the email address without getting confusing error messages.

 

To get the correct value of the @ according to job, I need…

  • A known value that is "fixed" (meaning hard-coded, unchangeable)
  • An adaptation process

 

I'll describe that now.

The Solution, Data Side

I added these declarations into an /INCLUDE:

 

dPortableCharInz  ds                  qualified 

d   Dollar                       1    inz(x'5B')

d   AccentAcute                  1    inz(x'BE')

d   Caret                        1    inz(x'5F')

d   Tilde                        1    inz(x'A1')

d   NumberSign                   1    inz(x'7B')

d   AtSign                       1    inz(x'7C')

d   LeftBracket                  1    inz(x'4A')

d   BackSlash                    1    inz(x'E0')

d   RightBracket                 1    inz(x'5A')

d   LeftBrace                    1    inz(x'C0')

d   LogicalOr                    1    inz(x'BB')

d   RightBrace                   1    inz(x'D0')

d   ExclamationPoint...                         

d                                1    inz(x'4F')

d   CCSID                        5s 0 inz(500)  

 

and

 

d PortableChar    ds                  qualified

d   Dollar                       1    inz('_')

d   AccentAcute                  1    inz('_')

d   Caret                        1    inz('_')

d   Tilde                        1    inz('_')

d   NumberSign                   1    inz('_')

d   AtSign                       1    inz('_')

d   LeftBracket                  1    inz('_')

d   BackSlash                    1    inz('_')

d   RightBracket                 1    inz('_')

d   LeftBrace                    1    inz('_')

d   LogicalOr                    1    inz('_')

d   RightBrace                   1    inz('_')

d   ExclamationPoint...                       

d                                1            

d   CCSID                        5s 0 inz(0)

 

 

I also added into this /INCLUDE the prototypes for the IBM-supplied iConv API and the CONVCCSID procedure (a wrapper I wrote).

 

What is the objective?

 

PortableCharInz is in fact a hexadecimal constant whose values are chosen according to the CCSID 500. The CCSID 500 is the basic CCSID for America and West Europe. I could have coded this string as a constant, but it would be a lot less legible.

The Solution, Code Side

The idea is to use, at the beginning of the program, PortableCharInz (whose content is stationary, known, and in CCSID 500) to convert it to the current job CCSID.

 

Like this:

 

PortableChar = ConvCcsid(PortablecharInz.ccsid:0:PortableCharInz);  

 

From there, the modification to bring in the program MAIL is the following:

 

// * one @ is mandatory               

i = %scan(portablechar.AtSign:email);

 

And the program runs correctly again.

 

The complete RPG source code of ConvCcsid is in JP4INC.MBR here. The complete RPG code of MAIL is available here.

 

This second article has described the solution. We now are sure there is some method to take care of the Job CCSID. In the next (and final) article of this series, I will share some tips and tricks I found while solving the bug with the @.

 

Below, you will find the included prototypes for the IBM i APIs and my wrapper, copied from the include JP4INC.

 

These are the most important prototypes and data declarations:

 

*==================================================================

 * Type definitions for Code Conversion APIs                       

 *==================================================================

D  iconv_t        ds                  based(pDummy)                

d                                     qualified                    

D   rc                          10i 0                              

D   cd                          10i 0 dim(12)                      

D iconvtoCode     ds                  qualified                     

D         ccsid                 10i 0 inz(500)                     

D         convA                 10i 0                              

D         subA                  10i 0                              

D         shftA                 10i 0                              

D         lnOpt                 10i 0                              

D         erOpt                 10i 0                              

D         res                   12a   inz(*ALLx'00')               

D iconvfromCode   ds                  qualified                    

D          ccsid                10i 0 inz(0)                       

D          convA                10i 0 inz(0)                       

D          subA                 10i 0 inz(0)                               

D          shftA                10i 0 inz(1)                              

D          lnOpt                10i 0 inz(0)                              

D          erOpt                10i 0 inz(0)                              

D          res                  12a   inz(*ALLx'00')                      

 

 *==================================================================      

 * Prototype for iconv_open()--Code Conversion Allocation API             

 *==================================================================      

D iconv_open      pr                  extproc('QtqIconvOpen') like(iconv_t)

D  pToCode                        *   value                               

D  pFromCode                      *   value                                

 

 *==================================================================      

 * Prototype for iconv()--Code Conversion API                             

 *==================================================================      

D iconv           pr            10i 0 extproc('iconv')                    

D   cd                                value  like(iconv_t)                

D   pInBuf                        *   const                               

D   inBytesLft                  10i 0                                     

D   pOutBuf                       *   const                               

D   outBytesLft                 10i 0                                     

 

*==================================================================

 * Prototype for iconv_close()--Code Conversion Deallocation API   

 *==================================================================

D iconv_close     pr            10i 0 extproc('iconv_close')       

D   cd                                value  like(iconv_t)         

 *==================================================================

 

d convccsid       pr          1000    varying     

d                               10i 0 const       

d                               10i 0 const       

d                             1000    const varying

 

This is the procedure for ConvCCSID:

 

P convccsid       b                   export                   

d                 pi          1000    varying                

d  InCcsid                      10i 0 const                  

d OutCcsid                      10i 0 const                  

d  InString_p                 1000    const varying          

d  InString       s           1000    static varying         

d OutString       s           1000    static varying         

d inLen           s             10i 0 static                 

d OutLen          s             10i 0 inz(1000)              

D hIconv          ds                  likeds(iconv_t) inz    

d errcode         ds                  likeds(ErrorCodeHandler)

d                                     inz(*likeds)           

d rc              s             10i 0                        

d ToCCSID         s             10i 0                        

 /free                                                        

  ToCCSID = OutCCSID;                                        

  if ToCCSID = 0;                                            

  // system info                                             

     if not jp4.GotOsVersion;                                

     reset ErrorCodeHandler;                                 

     APIlen    = %size(PRDR0100) ;                              

     APIformat = 'PRDR0100'      ;                              

     osinfo='*OPSYS *CUR  0000*CODE     ' ;                     

     rtvprdinf(PRDR0100                                         

      : APIlen                                                  

      : APIformat                                                

      : osinfo                                                  

      : ErrorCodeHandler );                                     

        if (ErrorCodeHandler.available>0);                      

           message(ErrorCodeHandler.msgid:ErrorCodeHandler.msgdta

              :'':'QCPFMSG':'*ESCAPE');                         

        endif;                                                  

        jp4.gotosversion = true;                                

        jp4.OSVersion=prdr0100.Release_level;                   

     endif;                                                     

                                                                

     if jp4.OSVersion < 'V6R1M0';                               

     // get job info - iconv V5R4 does not handle ccsid 65535       

        if not jp4.GotJobi04 ;                                  

        reset ErrorCodeHandler;                                 

        RtvJobA ( JOBI0400                                        

               : %Size( JOBI0400 )                                    

               : 'JOBI0400'                                           

               : '*'                                                  

               : *Blank                                                

               : ECH                                                  

               );                                                     

           if (ErrorCodeHandler.available>0);                         

              message(ErrorCodeHandler.msgid:ErrorCodeHandler.msgdta  

                 :'':'QCPFMSG':'*ESCAPE');                            

           endif;                                                     

           jp4.GotJobi04  =true;                                      

           endif;                                                     

           if jobi0400.CodedcharactersetID=65535;             

              jp4.jobccsid=jobi0400.Defaultcodedcharactersetidentifier;

           else;                                                      

              jp4.jobccsid=jobi0400.CodedcharactersetID        ;      

           endif;                                                     

        ToCCSID = jp4.jobccsid;                                       

     else;                                                            

     // v6r1 handles ccsid 65535                               

     endif;                                                     

  endif;                                                       

                                                               

   iconvfromCode.ccsid =  InCcsid  ;                           

   iconvtoCode.ccsid =    ToCCSID    ;                          

   hIconv = iconv_open(%addr(iconvtoCode) :                    

                       %addr(iconvfromCode) ) ;                

   if hiconv.rc <> 0;                                          

     if errno() <> 0;                                           

        message(errnomsg(errno()):'':'*LIBL':'QCPFMSG':'*DIAG');

        return '';                                             

     endif;                                                    

   endif;                                                       

  if jp4.OSVersion < 'V6R1M0';                                 

  // iconv does not return the job ccsid                       

  else;                                                        

  if toccsid = 0;                                               

  jp4.jobccsid=HICONV.CD(2);                                   

  endif;                                                       

   InString = InString_P;                                    

   InLen = %len(InString)  ;                                 

   OutString = '';                                           

   %len(OutString)=OutLen;                                   

   rc = iconv(   hIconv :                                    

       %addr(InString   )+2 :                                

       Inlen :                                               

       %addr(OutString  )+2 :                                

       Outlen );                                             

    if rc< 0;                                                

       if c_errno <> 0;                                      

          message(errnomsg(c_errno):'':'*LIBL':'QCPFMSG') ;  

          return '';                                         

       endif;                                                

    endif;                                                   

    // outlen = first unused position into outstring

    %len(OutString)=%size(OutString)-OutLen-2;               

    iconv_close(   hiconv);                                  

  return OutString ;                                         

  begsr *pssr;                                                          

  monitor;                                                              

     dumpcallstack();                                                   

     // debug mode ?                                                    

     clear errcode;                                                     

     errcode.provided =%size(errcode);                                   

     debugmode.dbgattr='*DEBUGJOB';                                     

     debugging=true;                                                    

     RtvDbgAttr ( debugmode.DbgAttr :                                   

        debugmode.RtnAttr :                                             

        errcode );                                                      

     if (errcode.available>0);                                          

        if errcode.msgid   ='CPF9541';                                  

           debugging=false;                                             

        else;                                                           

           message(errcode.msgid :errcode.msgdta  :'':'QCPFMSG':'*DIAG');

        endif;                                                          

     endif;                                                             

     if debugging ;                                                     

        dump;                                                            

     endif;    

     on-error; 

     endmon;   

  endsr;       

 /end-free     

P                 e

 

as/400, os/400, iseries, system i, i5/os, ibm i, power systems, 6.1, 7.1, V7, V6R1

Jean-Paul Lamontre

Jean-Paul Lamontre has been working on IBM machines since 1976. His first was a 3/15 with 128K RAM (the biggest machine of the county). His first program was an RPG program, no more than 15 lines. It never compiled, and nobody ever understood why.

 

Currently, Jean-Paul divides has work time between two companies.

 

For Cilasoft, which offers the Cilasoft Audit and Security suite, he is the director of development. The Cilasoft suite is a cornerstore to any company's compliance process.

 

For Resolution, which offers Xcase, a database engineering suite, he is the CTO of the IBM i department. Xcase allows developers to modernize a DDS database to DDL, discover and implement implicit relationships, and manage SQL databases using an advanced GUI.

 

Jean-Paul also publishes some free tools on his personal Web site. Most popular are SQL2XLS, SPLF2PDF, and MAIL.

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