FIXEDVARCHAR

When you specify FIXEDVARCHAR NO, BMC AMI Unload performs the following actions:

• Unloads VARCHAR, VARGRAPHIC, and VARBINARY columns as variable-length VARCHAR, VARGRAPHIC, and VARBINARY fields without any padding before the beginning of the next field (unless you explicitly specify a field type)
• Sets the record format for the unload data set to VB

Exceptions

The following exceptions apply to FIXEDVARCHAR NO processing:

• BMC AMI Unload ignores this option when you specify FORMAT DSNTIAUL, always creating an unload data set with a record format set to FB and variable-length fields being padded to their maximum length.
• Explicitly specifying a field type on the INTO statement overrides the FIXEDVARCHAR specification.
• When using the UNLOAD TABLESPACE syntax to process a multi-table table space containing tables with the same fixed row length, the record format for the unload data set is set to FB.

When you specify FIXEDVARCHAR YES, BMC AMI Unload performs the following actions:

• Unloads VARCHAR, VARGRAPHIC, and VARBINARY columns as fixed-length VARCHAR, VARGRAPHIC, and VARBINARY fields (unless you explicitly specify a field type)
  A fixed-length VARCHAR, VARGRAPHIC, or VARBINARY field has a length equal to the maximum length of the column plus 2. The actual length specification of the column remains unchanged.

• Sets any unused bytes in the field (after the value and before the beginning of the next field) to blanks (VARCHAR and VARGRAPHIC) or hexadecimal zeros (VARBINARY)

• Sets the record format for the unload data set to FB

Exceptions

The following exceptions apply to FIXEDVARCHAR YES processing:

• If you specify RECFM VB on your UNLOAD command (or it is in effect by default), BMC AMI Unload uses variable block format for the data set records.
• When using the UNLOAD TABLESPACE syntax to process a multi-table table space containing tables with different row lengths, the record format for the unload data set is set to VB.
• When using the INTO clause syntax to unload data from a table, the record format for the unload data set is set to VB.
• When unloading data requesting FORMAT UNLOAD or FORMAT CSV output format, the record format of the unload data set is set to VB.
• When unloading data requesting FORMAT UNLOAD and FIXEDVARCHAR YES, the unloaded variable fields are padded to their maximum length.
• Explicitly specifying a field type on the INTO statement overrides the FIXEDVARCHAR specification.

Restrictions

The following restrictions apply when you specify FIXEDVARCHAR YES:

• FORMAT DELIMITED and FIXEDVARCHAR YES are mutually exclusive. The job fails with a parser error accompanied with a high return code value.
• BMC AMI Unload does not change the 2-byte length indicator when you specify FIXEDVARCHAR YES. If you plan to load the unloaded data, use the control statements that BMC AMI Unload generates to ensure proper table loading. Otherwise, a subsequent load utility might load incorrect or truncated data.
• If you are unloading LOB or XML data, BMC AMI Unload ignores this option for VBS data sets when you specify SPANNED YES. For more information, see SPANNED.

When FIXEDVARCHAR is not specified, BMC AMI Unload uses the default option of FIXEDVARCHAR NO when the following conditions exists:

• UPFRONT is specified in the NULLCHAR option.
• The table has variable length columns.

When FIXEDVARCHAR is not specified, BMC AMI Unload uses the default option of FIXEDVARCHAR YES when the table has no variable length columns (unless you specify UPFRONT in the NULLCHAR option).

When you request FORMAT UNLOAD data without specifying FIXEDVARCHAR YES or FIXEDVARVHAR NO, by default, the +PAD parameter found in the LODPARMS file takes effect as follows:

• +PAD(YES) creates an unload output data set with a record format of VB, where the variable field data is padded to its maximum length.
• +PAD(NO) creates an unload output data set with a record format of VB, where the variable-length fields do not contain any padding before the beginning of the next field.
  

Restriction

The +PAD parameter specified in LODPARMS file affects only requests to create FORMAT UNLOAD output data and does not apply to other supported output formats.