External Data Types 

The term external data type denotes the data type of the external data in a source file or target file.

A data type can be specified for a field in a load or unload command for each field value that needs to be loaded or unloaded (exception: TABLEEXTRACT and TABLELOAD).

If no data type is specified for a field value, the Replication Manager assumes the data type CHARACTER for this field value. If the field value does not have the CHARACTER data type, the data type must be specified explicitly.

The Replication Manager processes the following external data types:

Plain text values

CHAR

ASCII or EBCDIC coded, depending on the host, maximum of 254 bytes long

Binary values

INTEGER

Binary coded (host-specific), 1, 2 or 4 bytes long, sign in bit 0, negative values in two's complement notation

REAL

Floating point notation with mantissa and exponent, 4 or 8 bytes long, in host-specific notation

DECIMAL

Packed decimal: one digit per half byte, sign in extreme right half byte, 1 to 10 bytes long, maximum of 18 digits, the position of the decimal point is derived from the table column type

DECIMAL(n)

n specifies the number of digits on the right of the intended decimal point

ZONED

Zoned decimal: /370 zoned data format is permitted, the position of the decimal point is derived from the table column type

ZONED(n)

n specifies the number of digits on the right of the decimal point