Problem:

What do I need to do in order to mask VARCHAR fields longer than 256 bytes?   

Resolution:

The solution depends on the program language used for masking and the type of the connection.

  1.   C  masking

        -  for ODBC connection the masking process can be performed only at field level and the maximum field length for masking  is 256 bytes.    

        -   for Oracle (OCI)  conneciotn the masking process can be performed at field level and at record  level and  the maximum record length for masking is 32760 bytes.  You can mask fields more than 256 bytes in it.       

  2.   COBOL or PL/1  masking  -  the masking process can be performed at  field level and at record  level for ODBC and Oracle (OCI connections:    

       -    when  the masking process  is performed at field level the maximum field length is 256 bytes.

       -    when  the masking process is performed at record level the maximum record length for masking is 32760 bytes and you can mask fields more than 256 bytes in it.   

  There is an output flag UR-OUT-TYPE describing the location of the processed value.  This flag  is  specified by the masking program.   

   The possible flags are:

     R -  The change(masking)  works  at record level  (the field  UR-RECORD).

     F -  The change(masking) works  directly at field level ( the field UR-OUT-VAL).

The solution is valid for Data Express  for z/OS and Data Express for Distributed Systems.