Convert packed integer from AS400

Question

I am connecting to an AS400 server from c sharp. When i try to convert a packed field i am losing connection to the server. I have no problems with char fields. How do i convert a packed field within a c sharp program

Vulpes · Answer

Working from the info in this link (and Figure 88 to which it refers): http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/books/c0925083170.htm I've come up with the following conversion method assuming you can retrieve the packed field as a byte array from the AS400 server. As packed decimals can be up to 29 digits long only .NET's decimal type is large enough to deal accurately with them and so the method returns a decimal rather than an int long or double: using System; class Program { static void Main() { byte[] bytes = new byte[3]; bytes[0] = 2 * 16 + 1; bytes[1] = 5 * 16 + 4; bytes[2] = 4 * 16 + 15; decimal d = FromPackedDecimal(bytes); Console.WriteLine(d); // 21544 Console.ReadKey(); } static decimal FromPackedDecimal(byte[] bytes) { if (bytes == null || bytes.Length == 0) { throw new ArgumentException (Byte array can't be null or empty); } int len = bytes.Length; // get low order byte byte lob = bytes[len - 1]; // get sign nybble int nybble = lob % 16; int sign; if (nybble == 15) { sign = 1; } else if (nybble == 13) { sign = -1; } else { throw new ArgumentException(Low order byte contains unrecognized sign); } decimal result = lob / 16; if (len > 1) { decimal multiplier = 1m; for(int i = len - 2; i >= 0; i--) { multiplier *= 10m; result += multiplier * (bytes[i] % 16); multiplier *= 10m; result += multiplier * (bytes[i] / 16); } } return result * sign; } }