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Status Delivered
Workspace IBM i
Categories Core OS
Created by Guest
Created on Nov 12, 2019

RELATED IDEAS

Internationalization of EBCDIC environment (ILE)

For applications that need to be true global, then UTF-8 is the solution for today. However, converting a ILE application for UNICODE or UTF-8 is a time consuming and error prone task.

The solution might be in between: using a ebcdic based charset with utf-8 capabilities.

A suggestion could be UTF EBCDIC or UTFE since it has lossless conversion to and from UTF-8 and UNICODE and is single byte (ccsid 37) by nature and only expands for national chars.

A Corresponding ccsid is required to set for the job , SQL tables and DDS, and 5250 emulator ( maybe ccsid 47 if it is free - or maybe UTFE already have an ccsid)

Read more here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-EBCDIC

Mainframe tooling:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSB23S_1.1.0.13/gtpm2/m2chutfebcdic.html


Use Case:

Change a job to use base EBCDIC 37 but expands to UTF-8 for any national chars:
CHGJOB ccsid(47)

A unicode / utf-8 compatible table usable from EBCDIC environments:
create table test (name varchar (128) ccsid 47);

DDS ( Display/Printer/PF/LF):
A MYNAME 30 CCSID(47)


Idea priority Urgent
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     May 4, 2022
    IBM i now supports the UTF-16 encoding with CCSID 1210. Support for CCSID 1210 is only provided on the iconv_open() and QtqIconvOpen() conversion APIs and not across the operating system.
    This support is available is available in IBM i 7.5.

    For more information, see https://www.ibm.com/docs/api/v1/content/ssw_ibm_i_75/nls/rbagsutfebcdic.htm

    IBM Power Systems Development
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Apr 15, 2021

    Updating the status to uncommitted candidate. More details on the design proposal will be coming in the near future.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Oct 20, 2020

    Reopening for further evaluation. This RFE is on the list of the CEAC Top-20 RFE's and was briefly discussed at the Fall CEAC meeting on 10/20/2020 where IBM asked for input on the value of just providing the new CCSID without updates to the emulator, DDS, etc. The feedback provided was that there would be value in providing the CCSID. Feel free to add additional comments if I have not fully captured the objectives/concerns.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Oct 1, 2020

    IBM does not intend to make this change. While it is an interesting idea, it might be more time-consuming and error-prone in the long run than making the transition to UTF-8.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Mar 10, 2020

    The CAAC has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a medium priority requirement that should be addressed. As long as we are committed to EBCDIC, we need to support the international environment.

    Background: The COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC) members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CAAC has a key role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community, and has therefore reviewed your RFE.

    For more information about CAAC, see www.common.org/caac

    For more details about CAAC's role with RFEs, see http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/Blogs/i-Can/May-2017/COMMON-Americas-Advisory-Council-%28CAAC%29-and-RFEs/

    Nancy Uthke-Schmucki - CAAC Program Manager

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Dec 16, 2019

    The COMMON Europe Advisory Council (CEAC) has reviewed this requirement and recommends that IBM view this as a HIGH priority requirement that is important to address.

    A developer who deals with modernisation of applications needs an easier way to achieve interoperability with other systems and applications in international environments. This enhancement would help to make this possible.

    Background: The CEAC members have a broad range of experience in working with small and medium-sized IBM i customers. CEAC has a crucial role in working with IBM i development to help assess the value and impact of individual RFEs on the broader IBM i community and has therefore reviewed your RFE.

    To find out how CEAC help to shape the future of IBM i, see CEAC @ ibm.biz/BdYSYj and the article "The Five Hottest IBM i RFEs Of The Quarter" at ibm.biz/BdYSZT

    Therese Eaton – CEAC Program Manager, IBM

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