When QMF displays column metadata instead of the actual data

The default edit code for BLOB, CLOB, DBCLOB, XML, BINARY, and VARBINARY data is M. This is also the default edit code for DECFLOAT data when QMF is running on a processor that does not support decimal floating-point instructions.

The M edit code displays the column metadata (the data type and length) instead of the actual data. This edit code allows you to use these data types in a report without having to recast them to other data types. With the exception of DECFLOAT data, you can view the actual column data by modifying FORM.MAIN or FORM.COLUMNS and changing the edit code for the column. The ability to change the edit code for LOB data in your environment is controlled by the value of the DSQEC_LOB_RETRV global variable. This global variable can also be set to display LOB data instead of metadata by default. If the data type data in the column is greater than 32 KB, use a wrapping edit code such as CW so that QMF wraps data that does not fit the display width instead of truncating it.

If you are working with XML or LOB data and you receive out-of-storage errors while using an edit code other than M, you can change the edit code to M to clear the error and display the report.