Unicode considerations for IMS Connect

IMS™ Connect support for Unicode allows Unicode data to be sent to and from an IMS Connect client application. In certain circumstances, IMS Connect translates the Unicode data.

The IMS Connect support for Unicode requires that the client application and the IMS host application both support:

Unicode data
The same Unicode encoding schema (either UTF8, UTF16, or UCS-2) as the structure and content of the message being sent and received

IMS Connect supports ASCII and EBCDIC data streams both to and from the client application. If the client application sends ASCII data to IMS Connect, the ASCII is translated to EBCDIC. The subsequent output from IMS Connect to the client application is translated back to ASCII from EBCDIC. If the client application sends EBCDIC data to IMS Connect, no translation is required. With Unicode support, an IMS client application can also send and receive Unicode data to and from IMS Connect, specifically UTF8, UTF16, or UCS-2 data streams.

IMS Connect supports language groups 1, 2, and 3.

The client application uses the IMS Request Message (IRM) to:

Tell IMS Connect if the data it is sending is Unicode and if the IMS transaction code is being sent as Unicode. IMS Connect transforms the transaction code if it is being sent as Unicode and then sends the transformed code and Unicode data to IMS.
Tell IMS Connect the Unicode encoding schema that is being used (UTF8, UTF16, or UCS-2).

The transaction code can be sent as Unicode, ASCII, or EBCDIC; however, it must be a valid IMS transaction code of up to 8 bytes that occupies an 8-byte field. In the field, the code must be left justified and, if it is shorter than 8 bytes, padded with blanks. If a blank follows the 8-byte transaction code field, it is considered to be part of the Unicode data.