Pack for SAP Applications: ABAP Extract stage and Unicode FAQ

Answer

Q: What NLS map setting should I use to extract data from a Unicode-enabled SAP system?
A: Set the NLS map setting to UTF-8.

Q: When I use the ABAP Extract stage to extract data from a Unicode-enabled SAP system, how does the "Extended" field on the output link columns affect the character encoding of the data that the ABAP Extract stage sends to the output link?
A: When the ABAP Extract stage extracts data from a Unicode-enabled SAP system, the stage uses UTF-8 encoding to send the data to its output link, regardless of how you set the "Extended" field in the output link. You set the extended field of the output link to transform the data encoding after it is received from the ABAP Extract stage.

Q: Do I need to set the "Extended" field value to "Unicode" for each column?
A: Set the "Extended" field to "Unicode" for each character-data column that you want to transform from the UTF-8 encoding to some other encoding.

Q: If I have a CHAR(3) column in a Unicode-enabled SAP system. To what size should I set the corresponding field on the ABAP Extract stage's output link?
A: Set the output link field length to 3 characters, and set the extended field for the column to Unicode data encoding. The IBM® InfoSphere DataStage® parallel engine sets the correct number of bytes for each character of Unicode data.

Q: How can I set up a parallel job to process SAP data using the UTF-16 encoding?
A: Set the ABAP Extract stage's NLS map to UTF-8. Set the "Extended" field in the column interface of the output link to Unicode. Set the NLS map of the stage that receives the data from the ABAP Extract stage to UTF-16.

Q: If the ABAP extract stage is connected to a non-Unicode SAP system, does the ABAP extract stage convert the non-Unicode data coming from SAP into UTF-8 encoding?
A: The ABAP extract stage matches the encoding in the SAP system. If the SAP system contains data using e.g. the Shift-JIS character encoding, the stage will send Shift-JIS data to the output link.