2.17New functions in BS2000/OSD V6.0B with Correction Package 1/2007
2.17.1 Support for Unicode in BS2000/OSD via XHCS-SYS
*5 Due to new EU directives, the previously supported character sets
*5 are no longer sufficient in the medium term. As of
*5 V6.0B (correction level B62), support for Unicode supplements the
*5 EBCDIC character sets previously available in BS2000/OSD systems
*5 with the additional characters required in the European language
*5 theater. This is done by using selected Unicode code points in
*5 addition to the previous EBCDIC variants.
*5 Unicode is an international standard in which a digital code is
*5 defined for each character of all known languages over the long
*5 term. You will find information on Unicode in the Internet under
*5 http://www.unicode/org/.
*5 The basis for the Unicode support in BS2000/OSD is extensions in
*5 the
*5 about the coded character sets available in the system.
*5
*5 In addition to the previously supported 8 bit ISO codes ISO8859-
*5 1/2/3/4/5/7/9/15 and the EBCDIC codes belonging to them,
*5 V2.0 also supports the Unicode formats
*5 BS2000) and
*5
*5 8 bit ISO codes to Unicode and vice versa. In addition to the
*5 characters supported in these ISO codes,
*5 70 further characters from the Unicode character set, e.g. spe-
*5 cial characters such as those used in public administrations
*5 Using Unicode in the system
*5 To support using Unicode in BS2000/OSD systems, the character
*5 sets used in the system are extended by additional characters and
*5 a programming and runtime environment are provided to extend ex-
*5 isting applications with Unicode fields. It is thereby assumed
*5 that only a few fields, mainly name and address fields, have to
*5 be converted to Unicode.
*5 The Unicode support is provided on the basis of the existing
*5 products.
*5 processed but not for field or container names.
*5 The
*5 as they were.
*5 Further preparations must be made for using Unicode beyond updat-
*5 ing the system base, the system level applications and the pro-
*5 gramming environment.
*5 These include:
*5 - All data/files must be brought into a defined,
*5 consistent state.
*5 - The CCS (Coded Character Sets) names of all data must be
*5 consistent since the CCS name is a central component for
*5 handling the data.
*5 - Applications must be extended by the additional Unicode fields
*5 that have to be processed.
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