</programlisting>

The indicator variable <varname>val_ind</varname> will be zero if

the value was not null, and it will be negative if the value was

null.

null. (See <xref linkend="ecpg-oracle-compat"/> to enable

Oracle-specific behavior.)

</para>

<para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="ecpg-oracle-compat">

<title><productname>Oracle</productname> Compatibility Mode</title>

<para>

<command>ecpg</command> can be run in a so-called <firstterm>Oracle

compatibility mode</firstterm>. If this mode is active, it tries to

behave as if it were Oracle <productname>Pro*C</productname>.

</para>

<para>

Specifically, this mode changes <command>ecpg</command> in three ways:

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>

<para>

Pad character arrays receiving character string types with

trailing spaces to the specified length

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Zero byte terminate these character arrays, and set the indicator

variable if truncation occurs

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

Set the null indicator to <literal>-1</literal> when character

arrays receive empty character string types

</para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="ecpg-develop">

<title>Internals</title>