Re: AW: Question(s) on converting names and addresses to UNICODE

[Alan Shore <AlanShore@xxxxxxxx>]

Birgitta
as always, MUCH appreciated for your reply



Alan Shore
Programmer/Analyst, Distribution
E:AShore@xxxxxxxxxxx
P:(631) 200-5019
C:(631) 880-8640
"If you're going through Hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill
midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 07/22/2009 12:32:14 AM:

> Hi,
>
> in the first step, I'd create views over all tables where addresses and
name
> fields are located.
> Within this views I'd define all address and name field values as
Unicode,
> the conversion occurs automatically.
>
> Create View MySchema/MyView as
> Select AddressNo,
>        Cast(Name as VarGraphic(50) CCSID 13488) as Name,
>        Cast(City as NVarChar(50)) as City ...
> > From MyTable;
>
> In Release 6.1 you can use NVarChar or NChar to define Unicode fields
before
> 6.1 you have to define the fields as Graphic or VarGraphic with CCSID.
>
> These views can be used when passing address and name information to a
3rd
> party vendor.
> After having created all views, change your programs to access these
views
> instead of the underlying physical files.
> (BTW with Release 6.1 RPG will be smart enough to automatically convert
> between EBCDIC and Unicode, i.e. Built-In-Functions to convert are no
longer
> necessary.)
>
> After the complete program conversion you may convert your data within
your
> physical files and voilà everything is in Unicode.
> (Agreed it is not as easy as it sounds, but IMHO the only way to move
from
> EBCDIC to Unicode).
>
> For the field lengths I'd use in either way varying field lengths.
> We currently use for all our name and address fields 64 Characters
(varying
> length) where 32 are allocated within the record (Keyword VARLEN(32)
within
> DDS and ALLOCATE(32) within SQL.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards
>
> Birgitta Hauser
>
> "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." (Les
> Brown)
> "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." (Derek Bok)
> "What is worse than training your staff and losing them? Not training
them
> and keeping them!"
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] Im Auftrag von Alan Shore
> Gesendet: Tuesday, 21. July 2009 22:29
> An: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> Betreff: Question(s) on converting names and addresses to UNICODE
>
> Good afternoon all
> I hope I can ask the correct question, so here goes
> We have been asked to look into converting our Name and address fields
from
> EBCDIC to UNICODE to capture "foreign" characters
> Part of that conversion is the passing of said names and addresses to a
3rd
> party vendor
> This is NOT really a technical question per se, but I don't really know
> where to start investigating the following question.
>
> For ALL the names and addresses that have to be captured world wide (in
> whatever characters that will be passed down), what would be considered a
> good "size" for fields like
> first name
> last name
> Address lines (including street names, city names, provinces, county
names,
> country names etc. etc.)
> Like I said - not really a technical question, but if someone knows the
> answer, or can point me in the right direction, it would be MUCH
> appreciated
>
>
> Thanks in advance
>
>
>
> Alan Shore
> Programmer/Analyst, Distribution
> E:AShore@xxxxxxxxxxx
> P:(631) 200-5019
> C:(631) 880-8640
> "If you're going through Hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill
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