Convert String from ASCII to EBCDIC in Java?

Question

I need to write a 'simple' util to convert from ASCII to EBCDIC?

The Ascii is coming from Java, Web and going to an AS400. I've had a google around, can't seem to find a easy solution (maybe coz there isn't one :( ). I was hoping for an opensource util or paid for util that has already been written.

Like this maybe?

Converter.convertToAscii(String textFromAS400)
Converter.convertToEBCDIC(String textFromJava)

Thanks,

Scott

Answer 1

Please note that a String in Java holds text in Java's native encoding. When holding an ASCII or EBCDIC "string" in memory, prior to encoding as a String, you'll have it in a byte[].

ASCII -> Java:   new String(bytes, "ASCII")
EBCDIC -> Java:  new String(bytes, "Cp1047")
Java -> ASCII:   string.getBytes("ASCII")
Java -> EBCDIC:  string.getBytes("Cp1047")

Answer 2

JTOpen, IBM's open source version of their Java toolbox has a collection of classes to access AS/400 objects, including a FileReader and FileWriter to access native AS400 text files. That may be easier to use then writing your own conversion classes.

From the JTOpen homepage:

Here are just a few of the many i5/OS and OS/400 resources you can access using JTOpen:

• Database -- JDBC (SQL) and record-level access (DDM)
• Integrated File System
• Program calls
• Commands
• Data queues
• Data areas
• Print/spool resources
• Product and PTF information
• Jobs and job logs
• Messages, message queues, message files
• Users and groups
• User spaces
• System values
• System status

Answer 3

You should use either the Java character set Cp1047 (Java 5) or Cp500 (JDK 1.3+).

Use the String constructor: String(byte[] bytes, [int offset, int length,] String enc)

Answer 4

package javaapplication1;

import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
import java.nio.CharBuffer;

import java.nio.charset.CharacterCodingException;

import java.nio.charset.Charset;

import java.nio.charset.CharsetDecoder;

import java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder;

public class ConvertBetweenCharacterSetEncodingsWithCharBuffer {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

       //String cadena = "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ñâæÃÈÄóöó@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ÔÁâãÅÙÃÁÙÄ@ÄÅÂÉã@âæÉãÃÈ@@@@@@@@";
        String cadena = "ñâæÃÈÄóöó";
        System.out.println(Convert(cadena,"CP1047","ISO-8859-1"));
        cadena = "1SWCHD363";
        System.out.println(Convert(cadena,"ISO-8859-1","CP1047"));

    }

    public static String Convert (String strToConvert,String in, String out){
       try {

        Charset charset_in = Charset.forName(out);
        Charset charset_out = Charset.forName(in);

        CharsetDecoder decoder = charset_out.newDecoder();

        CharsetEncoder encoder = charset_in.newEncoder();

        CharBuffer uCharBuffer = CharBuffer.wrap(strToConvert);

        ByteBuffer bbuf = encoder.encode(uCharBuffer);

        CharBuffer cbuf = decoder.decode(bbuf);

        String s = cbuf.toString();

        //System.out.println("Original String is: " + s);
        return s;

    } catch (CharacterCodingException e) {

        //System.out.println("Character Coding Error: " + e.getMessage());
        return "";

    }


}

}