VSLength (MQLONG)

The length in bytes of the variable length string addressed by the VSPtr or VSOffset field.

The initial value of this field is 0. The value must be either greater than or equal to zero or the following special value which is recognized:

MQVS_NULL_TERMINATED

If MQVS_NULL_TERMINATED is not specified, VSLength bytes are included as part of the string. If null characters are present they do not delimit the string.

If MQVS_NULL_TERMINATED is specified, the string is delimited by the first null encountered in the string. The null itself is not included as part of that string.

Note: The null character used to terminate a string if MQVS_NULL_TERMINATED is specified is a null from the codeset specified by VSCCSID.

For example, in UTF-16 (CCSIDs 1200, 13488, and 17584), this is the two byte Unicode encoding where a null is represented by a 16-bit number of all zeros. In UTF-16 it is common to find single bytes set to all zero which are part of characters (7-bit ASCII characters for instance), but the strings will only be null terminated when two 'zero' bytes are found on an even byte boundary. It is possible to get two 'zero' bytes on an odd boundary when they are each part of valid characters. For example x'01' x'00 x'00' x'30' represents two valid Unicode characters and does not null terminate the string.

Parent topic: Fields for MQCHARV