Display DBCS data from iSeries greenscreen?

Question

I have some databases on my iSeries that use DBCS. If I try to view the raw data in any of the tables with DSPF, or display before/after journal entries with DSPJRN, my 5250 greenscreen session always treats the data as EBCDIC, which makes figuring out what I'm looking at very painful. I've tried checking the iSeries built-in help and the IBM InfoCenter and haven't found any way to convert the data translation to DBCS (indeed, I've barely found any acknowledgement that DBCS even exists).

Is there a way to show my tables / journal entries in a comprehensible, properly translated format?

e.g. a (hex-view) line like this:

00410043 0055004F 00520048 00200020 00200020      ä í | ê ç  

should actually translate as:

00410043 0055004F 00520048 00200020 00200020      ACUORH    

Answer 1

The 5250 data stream itself supports unicode...

The problem is that most 5250 terminal emulators do not. This include's IBM's own iAccess for Windows and Personal Communications...

The only 5250 emulator I'm aware of that supports uncode is IBM iAccess for Web.

http://www.think400.dk/files/Whats_with_these_ASCII_EBCDIC_Unicode_CCSIDs.pdf

Answer 2

The hex dump you posted does not look like DBCS. I don't see the shift-in and shift-out characters. It looks like Unicode. Here is the Infocenter page on Unicode: http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/iseries/v7r1m0/index.jsp?topic=%2Fnls%2Frbagsunicodeucs2.htm

Some things to check:

• Make sure your PC operating system supports Unicode
• Make sure your emulator supports Unicode
• Make sure your IBM i job is in the proper CCSID - 65535 means 'do not convert between character sets'