Displaying EBCDIC Values

DB2 z/OS and DB2 iSeries database can hold data using EBCDIC encoding.

If the columns are defined as character, the data will come through to AQT in Ascii (so will be readable). Conversion from EBCDIC to Ascii is done by the gateway software - DB2/Connect or DB2 CAE.

However if the columns are defined as binary, then the gateway software will not do any codepage conversion - the data will come through unchanged. If these columns contain any text, this will come through to AQT in EBCDIC (which will not be readable).

Note that Binary columns include those defined as BINARY, VARBINARY or CHAR FOR BIT DATA.

AQT has a number of methods for dealing with this issue.

Options > Convert EBCDIC to Ascii

If Options > Display Format > Convert EBCDIC to Ascii is selected then AQT will parse all binary columns to see whether they contain EBCDIC text. If so, AQT will convert the text to Ascii.

This process is not perfect and AQT may not correctly identify a value as Ebcdic.

Detail Window

If your display has Ebcdic values, you can:

• show the value in the defail window
• click on View > Convert EBCDIC to Ascii

EBCDIC to Ascii Conversion Tool

AQT comes with a tool to convert EBCDIC values to Ascii. This is found in the Database Explorer window > Tools > Base64 / EBCDIC / Hex Encoding Tool. You can use this to convert any text, or file, between Ebcdic and Ascii.