Re: Haw to Convert ASCII CCSID 61952 to EBCDIC 037 follow up !!

[Tom Liotta <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Aschenbrenner, Poul wrote:
> I have now get the string with file name created in IFS.
> But the file name have some strangers hex char in the start
> of varible MyFile. ?? 
>
> Here is my sample exit program. What can I do to remove
> the starting hex char. ex. x'0028' it look like it has
> some form off lengt of the variable. 
> Is this normal when setting variable VARYING. 
> I can se this in the CL program that i Call.

Poul:

It is normal for a VARYING field to have a 2-byte length value in 
memory just before the first data byte. If you pass that field to an 
ILE CL procedure, you might handle it like this:

pgm    ( &pfile )

   dcl   &pfile       *char  256 /* Has length pre-pended */

   dcl   &lpfile      *int     2
   dcl   &file        *char  254 /* This one does NOT have length */


   chgvar    &lpfile  %bin( &pfile 1 2 )  /* Extract length bytes */
   chgvar    &file    %sst( &pfile 3 &lpfile )  /* Start in 3 */

You can extract the length into a numeric variable and use the 
length to extract a fixed-length copy of the data in the field.

You don't always have to extract into a separate fixed-length 
variable. Sometimes it makes sense just to use the substring 
expression itself or to pass the VARYING variable unchanged.

There are always different ways to do things, but this tiny example 
might help see what happens.

Note that CL can essentially _generate_ a VARYING value by reversing 
the process. Place the value starting in byte 3, and then place the 
2-byte length in bytes 1 & 2. Then pass the entire string.

Tom Liotta