Code Pages and Data Movement Modes

You can configure PowerCenter to move single byte and multibyte data. The PowerCenter Integration Service can move data in either ASCII or Unicode data movement mode. These modes determine how the PowerCenter Integration Service handles character data. You choose the data movement mode in the PowerCenter Integration Service configuration settings. If you want to move multibyte data, choose Unicode data movement mode. To ensure that characters are not lost during conversion from one code page to another, you must also choose the appropriate code pages for your connections.

ASCII Data Movement Mode

Use ASCII data movement mode when all sources and targets are 7-bit ASCII or EBCDIC character sets. In ASCII mode, the PowerCenter Integration Service recognizes 7-bit ASCII and EBCDIC characters and stores each character in a single byte. When the PowerCenter Integration Service runs in ASCII mode, it does not validate session code pages. It reads all character data as ASCII characters and does not perform code page conversions. It also treats all numerics as U.S. Standard and all dates as binary data.

You can also use ASCII data movement mode when sources and targets are 8-bit ASCII.

Unicode Data Movement Mode

Use Unicode data movement mode when sources or targets use 8-bit or multibyte character sets and contain character data. In Unicode mode, the PowerCenter Integration Service recognizes multibyte character sets as defined by supported code pages.

If you configure the PowerCenter Integration Service to validate data code pages, the PowerCenter Integration Service validates source and target code page compatibility when you run a session. If you configure the PowerCenter Integration Service for relaxed data code page validation, the PowerCenter Integration Service lifts source and target compatibility restrictions.

The PowerCenter Integration Service converts data from the source character set to UCS-2 before processing, processes the data, and then converts the UCS-2 data to the target code page character set before loading the data. The PowerCenter Integration Service allots two bytes for each character when moving data through a mapping. It also treats all numerics as U.S. Standard and all dates as binary data.