Oracle Audio Technologies Oracle Tuxedo - Manual (Page 28)

2-10 Oracle Tuxedo Mainframe Adapter for TCP CICS User Guide
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.