Use a specific object-level CCSID for handling messages

If the CCSID of an object is any value other than 65535 or 65534, all messages in that object are considered encoded in that CCSID. The object-level CCSID overrides the CCSID stored with the messages.

Use this type of object-level CCSID if both of the following conditions are true:

• You expect the object to be sent messages or have message descriptions added in a CCSID different from the CCSID in which you will receive the messages or retrieve the message descriptions.
• You intend to receive the same message or retrieve the same message description many times.

If these conditions are true, set the object-level CCSID to the CCSID in which you will receive or retrieve the messages. When the system uses this type of object-level CCSID, the message text or data is converted at the time the message is sent or is added to the object. No conversion occurs when the message is received or retrieved because the text and data are already in the CCSID requested on the receive operation or retrieve operation.

Do not change system-supplied message files to use this type of object-level CCSID. Each system-supplied message description is tagged separately. No one object-level CCSID value can represent all of the message descriptions in the message file. Changing the object-level CCSID of a system-supplied message file to anything other than CCSID 65535 or CCSID 65534 might cause unpredictable results.