Oracle Audio Technologies Oracle Tuxedo manual Strings and Numeric Data a Closer Look

Strings and Numeric Data: A Closer Look

This subsection provides suggestions that help you develop VIEW definitions for input and output buffers and records. It also explains how string data and numeric data are treated in the TMA TCP gateway environment.

Including NULL Characters in String Length Calculations

When you create VIEW definitions for input and output records that are used by CICS applications, do not specify an extra position for the terminating NULL characters that are used in string fields.

For example, when a CICS application program expects 10 characters in an input record, specify 10 for that field, not 10 plus 1.

Note: Although TMA TCP gateway does not require strings to be NULL-terminated, it respects NULL termination. Therefore, when TMA TCP gateway detects a NULL (zero) character within a string, it does not process any subsequent characters. To pass full 8-bit data that contains embedded NULL values, use a CARRAY type field or buffer.

The character set translations performed by TMA TCP gateway can be fully localized, in accordance with the X/Open XPG Portability Guides. ASCII and EBCDIC translations are loadable from message files. The TMA TCP gateway software contains default behaviors which should meet the requirements of most English-language applications. However, you may find it necessary to customize tables. See the Oracle TMA TCP gateway User Guide for complete instructions.

Converting Numeric Data

You can convert numeric data into different data types easily, provided that you have enough range in the intermediate and destination types to handle the maximum value you need to represent.

For example, you can convert an FML field of double into a packed decimal field on the remote target system by specifying an appropriate dec_t type VIEW element.

In addition, you can convert numeric values into strings (and the reverse). For example, while FML buffers do not directly support the dec_t type, you can place decimal values in string fields and map these to dec_t fields within VIEW definitions.