In our daily business we have to handle different types of data-sources and data-sinks. Most of these data-source and data-sinks are UTF-8 aware already. But what if one of these is does not provide data in UTF-8 or does not understand it at all?
The PI/PO is only handling UTF-8-Data so how is it possible within the PI to convert the Encoding of a File/Message?
In one of our current scenarios we have to handle fixed-length files, which are read from a SFTP server.
(But this guide should also be valid for other scenarios)
The configuration is simple, but not obvious since the behaviour of the MessageTransformBean is a little bit strange 
Here is what you have to do in the Module-Chain of your channel if you want to convert a message from a supported encoding into UTF-8.
Processing Sequence
| Number | Module Name | Type | Module Key |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AF_Modules/MessageTransformBean | Local Enterprise Bean | Codepage |
| 2 | AF_Modules/TextCodepageConversionBean | Local Enterprise Bean | Convert |
| 3 | AF_Modules/MessageTransformBean | Local Enterprise Bean | Transform |
| 4 | localejbs/CallSapAdapter | Local Enterprise Bean | entry |
Module Configuration
| Module Key | Parameter Name | Parameter Value |
|---|---|---|
| Codepage | Transform.ContentType | text/plain;charset=ISO-8859-1 |
| Convert | Conversion.charset | utf-8 |
| Transform | Transform.Class | com.sap.aii.messaging.adapter.Conversion |
| Transform | xml.conversionType | SimplePlain2XML |
| Transform | xml.documentName | Foo |
| Transform | xml.documentNamespace | http://example.com |
| Transform | xml.fieldFixedLength | 1,2,3 |
| Transform | xml.fieldNames | ID, Bar, Baz |
| Transform | xml.processFieldNames | fromConfiguration |
| Transform | xml.structureTitle | Bar |
The key in this configuration is to use two different instance of the MessageTransformBean. The first one only sets the codepage, and mime-type, which is then converted by the TextCodepageConversionBean. The sencond one parses the (now utf-8) text into xml.
These two steps are necessary since the class "com.sap.aii.messaging.adapter.Conversion" expects its data as utf-8 which is not right if the incomming codepage is not utf-8 but an other one.