WebSphere Message Brokers
File: ac30170_
Writer: Catherine Tucker

Task topic

This build: July 31, 2007 21:20:01

Generating a new code page converter

Before you start:
  • Read Code page converters, which provides information about what a code page converter is, and about the code pages that WebSphere Message Broker supports.

If you need to support a code page that is not in the default set of code pages that WebSphere Message Broker supports, generate a new code page converter:

  1. Create or find a mapping data file with the file extension .ucm for the converter that you require. You can download .ucm files from the ICU Character set mapping files archive. These mapping data files are available and can be modified without restriction. An example mapping data file is ibm-1284_P100-1996.ucm.
  2. Rename the .ucm to a file name with the format ibm-number.ucm where number is a number that you choose to identify the code page. Make sure that this number is not already used in one of the Supported code pages. For example, you could rename ibm-1284_P100-1996.ucm to ibm-1284.ucm.
  3. Go to ICU downloads and download the binary distribution for your system. An exact match is not important as long as the binary files are compatible. If you have problems building the converter, see the ICU user guide.
  4. Extract the files from the binary distribution archive into a temporary directory.
  5. Copy the library and binary files to a directory within the environment PATH and LIBPATH. (Alternatively, copy the library and binary files to directory that is not temporary and modify the environment PATH and LIBPATH to include this directory.)
  6. One of the extracted files is makeconv.exe; use this makeconv tool to convert the mapping data file (.ucm files) into a binary converter file (.cnv file), by entering the following command:
    makeconv -p ICUDATA mapping_file.ucm 
    where mapping_file.ucm is the mapping data file that you are using.

    The name of the binary converter file that makeconv produces is:

    icudt32<platform-suffix>_<mapping_file>.cnv
    where:
    • <platform-suffix> is one of the following values:
      • l for little-endian ASCII platforms
      • b for big-endian ASCII platforms
      • e for EBCDIC platforms
    • <mapping_file> is the name of the mapping data file that was converted.
    To make the .cnv file for ibm-1284.ucm, use the following command:
    makeconv -p ICUDATA ibm-1284.ucm 
  7. Copy the file with the file extension .cnv for the code page that you need, into a directory that WebSphere Message Broker can access; for example, on UNIX: /var/mqsi/converters.
  8. Associate the broker with the code page converter by entering the name of the directory where the converter is stored:
    • To create a new broker that is associated with the converter, include the -c parameter on the mqsicreatebroker command.
    • To alter an existing broker to recognize the converter, include the -c parameter on the mqsichangebroker command.
    • To affect all the products and the broker command-line tools that are using ICU, add the directory to the ICU_DATA environment variable. If you have already used either the mqsicreatebroker command or the mqsichangebroker command to specify the code page converter to be used, the broker ignores the ICU_DATA value.

    If you are using a converter that matches one of the built-in converters that are provided with Version 6.0, and that converter is the local code page for the broker, do not use the mqsicreatebroker command with the -c parameter to set the converter path. Use the ICU_DATA environment variable instead.

Related concepts
Code page converters
Related tasks
Changing locales
Related reference
Supported code pages
mqsicreatebroker command
mqsichangebroker command
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This build: July 31, 2007 21:20:01

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