ECC 6.0 Dataset Encoding

[Former Member]

Hi,

My company is upgrading the system from 46c to ECC 6 and some program encounter problem during the upgrade:

In "TEXT MODE" the "ENCODING" addition must be specified.

Currently, the program is using the following syntax TO READ A PLAIN TEXT FILE:

OPEN DATASET 'filename' FOR INPUT IN TEXT MODE.

Which encoding should i use in ECC 6??

OPEN DATASET 'filename' IN TEXT MODE for INPUT ENCODING NON-UNICODE.

OPEN DATASET 'filename' IN TEXT MODE for INPUT ENCODING DEFAULT.

OPEN DATASET 'filename' IN TEXT MODE for INPUT ENCODING UTF-8.

Regards,

Kit

[former_member416498]

Hi Kit

Its better to specify the UTF-8 encoding. So that the characters in the file are handled according to the Unicode character representation( UTF-8).

Though Unicode system, the designation DEFAULT corresponds to the designation UTF-8. It would be better if you can mention what error you are facing while upgrading.

Regards

Vijay

[Former Member]

Hi Vijay,

Thx for your reply. I want to make the question simpler. In case, i read a plain text file(ASCII) in ecc 6 by the open dataset statement. Which encoding option should i use?? UTF-8,DEFAULT or NON-UNICODE ??

Regards,

Kit

[Former Member]

Hi Kit,

Refer to the help.sap,com link [link|http://help.sap.com/saphelp_47x200/helpdata/en/79/c554dcb3dc11d5993800508b6b8b11/frameset.htm] which clearly confirm that you must use UTF-8.

The textual storage in UTF-8 format ensures that the created files are platform-independent

Replace

open dataset DSN in text mode.

with

open dataset DSN in text mode for input encoding utf-8.

Cheers,

Aditya

[Former Member]

Hi Aditya,

Thx for your reference link. It seems that the "in legacy text mode for input" should be used in my case. Because all the content in the file are normal character. Besides, i also want to retain the original file format. Any comment?

Regards,

Kit

[Former Member]

Hi,

I am only concerned about data loss if you are working on a unicode system considering the disclaimer mentioned by SAP here

"However, be aware that data loss and conversion errors can occur in Unicode systems if there are characters in the structure that cannot be represented in the non-Unicode codepage"

Hence, I would recommend use UTF-8 and if there are issues, revert to legacy mode.

It's always better to be fully compliant with Unicode.

Cheers,

Aditya