Using ACIF user input record exits

ACIF provides these AIX or Windows user input record exits to translate input data streams:

apka2e

The apka2e input record exit program uses the uconv command to convert ASCII stream data to EBCDIC stream data. You can also convert encoded data to another coded character set identifier (CCSID) if you specify the INPCCSID and OUTCCSID parameters. You use this exit when your print job requires fonts with code points that are different from your data file. For example, GT12 has only EBCDIC code points defined. If the INPCCSID and OUTCCSID parameters are not specified, the default translation is from ASCII (code set IBM-850) to EBCDIC (code set IBM-037). Otherwise, INPCCSID specifies the input code page and OUTCCSID specifies the output code page.

asciinp

You can use asciinp if your unformatted ASCII file contains carriage returns and form feeds. The asciinp input record exit program translates an unformatted ASCII data stream into a record format that contains an ANSI carriage control character in byte 0 of every record. If byte 0 of the input record is an ASCII carriage return (X'0D'), byte 0 is transformed into an ASCII space (X'20') that causes a data stream to return and advance one line; no character is inserted. If byte 0 of the input record is an ASCII form feed character (X'0C'), byte 0 is transformed into an ANSI skip to channel 1 command (X'31') that serves as a form feed in the carriage control byte.

asciinpe

You use asciinpe if your unformatted ASCII file contains carriage returns and form feeds, and your print job requires fonts with code points that are different from your data file. The asciinpe input record exit program translates an unformatted ASCII data stream into a record format just as asciinp does. Then, asciinpe uses the uconv command to convert the ASCII stream data to EBCDIC stream data. You can also convert encoded data to another coded character set identifier (CCSID) just as apka2e does if you specify the INPCCSID and OUTCCSID parameters.

To use an input record exit program to translate input data streams:

1. Specify inpexit=exitprogram in ACIF, where exitprogram is apka2e, asciinp, or asciinpe. Ensure that the directory where the input record exit program is located is included in the PATH environment variable; otherwise, you must specify the exitprogram with the full path name, such as inpexit=/usr/lpp/psf/bin/apka2e for AIX or inpexit=\c:\exits\acif\apka2e.dll for Windows. For more information about this parameter, see INPEXIT.
2. Optionally, if you want to convert encoded data other than ASCII to EBCDIC, specify these parameters:
   • inpccsid=ccsid, where ccsid is a valid CCSID for the input code page
   • outccsid=ccsid, where ccsid is a valid CCSID for the output code page
   For more information about these parameters, see INPCCSID and OUTCCSID.