Sign Nibbles in Zoned and Packed Decimal Items

Items that are zoned, such as PIC S999 or packed decimal, such as USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL or COMP-3, contain a sign nibble which is half a byte.

There is a small difference in processing these items in zOS systems and IBM i systems. On a zOS system, positive values in signed items such as PIC S999 contain nibble xC, while on IBM i system, such items contain nibble xF.

During parsing, the Data Conversion Connector recognizes both variations. However, during rendering, you have to specify what flavor of behavior is needed. You can use the IBM i Sign Nibbles setting in the Render activity. Select it to generate the IBM i flavor. Unselect to generate the zOS flavor.