Variable length fields

When Entries are (re-)generated for database files that contain variable length fields (DDS keyword VARLEN) manual changes to the Field definition of the Entry are needed.

The generation process defines the variable length field to be of a length that is equal to the maximum number of bytes that the field can occupy in the record. This includes the first 2 bytes that contain a binary number indicating the actual number of bytes in the field. Because these first 2 bytes contain a binary value, unpredictable results may occur when using the Field in an ITP Model. After (re-)generation of the Entry the definition of the variable length field should be changed to start on an offset that is 2 bytes further in the record and with a length that is 2 bytes less. It is also recommended to manually define an extra Field with a sequence number just before the variable length field, starting at the original offset of the variable length field, and defined as type binary with 2 bytes in length.

To illustrate the above: