Creating user-defined conversion tables

You can create your own user-defined conversion tables and have the z/OS Unicode Services character conversion service use them.

You might need to do this if existing conversion tables do not meet your needs, or you need to support a CCSID that is not currently supported by the z/OS Unicode Services character conversion service.

There are two different methods that can be used to customize z/OS Unicode Services: The method you choose to use will depend on whether you want to define a new CCSID for your user-defined conversion table.

In general, if you only want to have a different mapping occur for a subset of characters in an existing conversion table, a new CCSID is not needed and Creating a user-defined conversion table between two existing CCSIDs will meet your needs. One reason for creating a user-defined CCSID is because the interface you are using only allows you to pass CCSIDs and not a technique, yet you want to use a user-defined conversion. By creating a new CCSID, that value can drive new conversions.

If you think the user-defined conversion resource you need may be of use to others, contact IBM support to see if IBM can create the mapping for you.

Note: z/OS Unicode Services is used throughout z/OS. Changes to z/OS Unicode Services may impact DB/2, CICS, and so on. Because of this, you should not change or replace a system-provided mapping. Instead, create your own user-defined mapping.