Character data

Character data is described by a character set identifier and a code page identifier. The code page identifier defines how each character is to be encoded; for example “A” is encoded as X'41' in ASCII and as X'C1' in EBCDIC.

The SRVERCP keyword on the DFHCNV TYPE=ENTRY macro specifies the EBCDIC code page in which character data associated with a resource is encoded in CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS®.

The CLINTCP keyword on the DFHCNV TYPE=ENTRY macro specifies the default code page in which the character data associated the specified resource is encoded when it is received by or sent from the CICS Transaction Server for z/OS. Typically, the data is encoded in ASCII, although in some cases it might be encoded in EBCDIC. When the data is encoded in EBCDIC, the code page is likely to be different from that specified by the SRVERCP keyword.

The code page specified by the CLINTCP keyword can be overridden. This allows CICS Transaction Server for z/OS to communicate with several systems, each of which uses a code page to represent character data.