DBCS Variable-length Character Strings

DBCS variable-length character strings are SQL data types similar to variable-length character strings, but are encoded using DBCS characters instead of single- or mixed-byte characters.

Host Variable Formats

OpenESQL and DB2 ECM
01 dbcschar1.
   49 dbcschar1-len        PIC S9(4)  COMP-5.
   49 dbcschar1-data       PIC N(200) USAGE DISPLAY-1.

01 dbcschar2.
   49 dbcschar1-len        PIC S9(4)  COMP.
   49 dbcschar1-data       PIC G(200).
  • The level number for group items containing only two elementary items must be 49. The first item is a two-byte field declared with usage COMP or COMP-5 that represents the effective length of the character string. The length field can be signed or unsigned. The second item is a PIC n DISPLAY-1 or PIC G data type, where n is an integer representing the length of the field that holds the data.
  • SQL statements must reference the group name.

For more information on using host variables with international data, see OpenESQL Globalization Best Practices.