PQ95558: EXEC COBOL GERMAN SPECIFIC CHARACTER (LOWER CASE O WITH UMLAUT) DOES NOT DISPLAY IN DEBUG TOOL, BUT SHOWS X'6A'

Obtain the fix for this APAR.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• While reviewing a COBOL program, Debug Debug Tool cannot
  display lowercase German o with umlaut (hex'6A' or oe) but
  other German specific characters will display.
  
  For example Debug Tool shows:
   MONITOR -1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6---
   ******************************* TOP OF MONITOR
    1 VAR-LOWERCASE-AE   'ä       '
    2 VAR-LOWERCASE-OE   X'6A40404040404040'
    3 VAR-LOWERCASE-UE   '*       '    <-- * is u with umlaut
   SOURCE: PMAINX2 --1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----
         14        01  Var-Lowercase-ae   Pic x(8)  Value 'ä'.
         15        01  Var-Lowercase-oe   Pic x(8)  Value '*
                           * above is lowercase o with umlaut
         16        01  Var-Lowercase-ue   Pic x(8)  Value '*'.
                           * above is lowercase u with umlaut
  The ä (umlaut a) and ü (umlaut u) are good.  Only the ö fails.
  A fix is needed for version 2.10.0 in addition to the
  current releases.
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED: Users running Debug Tool with COBOL          *
  *                 programs containing valid character data     *
  *                 that is displayed in hex format when a       *
  *                 Debug Tool LIST command is entered.          *
  *                                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: When a Debug Tool LIST command is       *
  *                      entered for a variable or AUTOMONITOR   *
  *                      is ON, a variable that contains valid   *
  *                      character data may be displayed in      *
  *                      hex format.                             *
  *                                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  Prior to returning data to Debug Tool, COBOL tests the hex
  values of the characters in the variable and attempts to
  determine whether the values are valid character data. If
  the value is not one that is identified as being a valid
  displayable character a return code is passed to Debug Tool
  indicating that the character is undisplayable, this causes
  Debug Tool to display the variable value in hex format.
  
  The table used to test the value allows some punctuation
  characters, letters A-Z, a-z and display format numbers 1-9,
  based on a U.S. codepage. Variances between the code points
  assigned to different characters may cause results that appear
  inconsistent when running with a code pages other than a U.S
  code page.
  
  The code points for A-Z, a-z and 1-9 are the same across code
  pages, but others vary. Some variables may be displayed in
  character format while others containing similar character
  data are displayed in hex format. This is due to the particular
  hex code point value that represents the character.
  
  For example, when using a German code page(ie. 1141), a lower
  case o with umlat displays in hex, while a lower case u with
  umlat is displayed in character format.
  

Problem conclusion

• The table used to determine the validity of characters used in
  an alphanumeric field should be updated to allow a broader
  range of characters to be displayed. None of the hex values
  from x'00' to x'3F' nor x'FF' are valid character data values,
  but values from x'40' to x'FE' may represent valid displayable
  characters, depending on the code page used.
  
  Updates to the table will be made to allow all hex values
  from x'40' to x'FE' as valid character data, without passing a
  return code indicating that the data should be displayed in hex
  format. If undisplayable characters are returned, the hex value
  can still be obtained by using the "LIST %HEX" Debug Tool
  command.
  
  This change applies only to alphanumeric data items. Data
  items that are declared as alphabetic will still be displayed
  in hex format if characters other than a-z or A-Z or spaces
  are encountered during the validity testing.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

  UQ94570 UQ94571 UQ94573 UQ94572 UQ94574 UQ94575

Modules/Macros

•    IGZIC41
  

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  LE COBOL LIB

• Fixed component ID

  568819802

Applicable component levels

• R703 PSY UQ94570

     UP04/11/02 P F411

• R705 PSY UQ94571

     UP04/11/02 P F411

• R706 PSY UQ94572

     UP04/11/02 P F411

• R707 PSY UQ94573

     UP04/11/02 P F411

• R708 PSY UQ94574

     UP04/11/02 P F411

• R709 PSY UQ94575

     UP04/11/02 P F411

Fix is available

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