Reading chinese double byte chars from iSeries DataReader

Question

I am using IBM iSeries .NET datareader to get data from the AS400.

1) What do I need to do in the AS400 side to send double byte chars 2) Will the IBM iSeries preserve double byte chars? All I get is an empty string

Answer 1

1) Make sure your connection is set to use UTF-8.

2) The IBM i is certainly capable of storing double-byte data, it just depends on how the Physical File (table) was created. You can either execute DSPFD LIBRARY/FILE from a 5250 session and search for DBCS capable - you will see a Yes or No that indicates if the table is capable of storing double-byte characters. Of if you want to use SQL to find out you can query the SYSIBM database:

SELECT * FROM SYSIBM.SQLCOLUMNS WHERE TABLE_SCHEM = 'MYLIB' AND TABLE_NAME = 'MYTABLE'

You'll want to look for the TYPE_NAME column to see the data type. If it's VARGRAPHIC then it is capable of storing double-byte characters.