Re: Character Set Issues

What is 'the Java front end'?

Which operating system is the client on?

What is the character set of the database?

Do you have a 10g database?

Do you have a 10g client? - Yep

What is the value of the environment variable NLS_LANG on the client? ENLGISH_UNITEDKINGDOM.AL32UTF8 Which are the two values that the ASCII function returns? 14844588, the other is 157something (sorry don't have it to hand right now)

Is the field containing the Euro characters a VARCHAR2, CHAR, NVARCHAR2

or NCHAR field? VARCHAR2

Charles - Cheers, I understand what you're saying and it prob explains why determining the ASCII value for the symbol doesn't help. However, ideally i simply want the € symbol to be selected by my PL/SQL and placed into a file correctly. At the moment when selecting it, it returns an inverted ? rather than the € symbol.

By the way I've realised that the AL32UTF8 characterset is infact a unicode compliant character set, so guessing that's not the issue.

On Nov 27, 5:18 pm, "Charles Hooper" <hooperc2..._at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> giles.bu..._at_lycos.co.uk wrote:
> > Hi All,
>
> > I have the following issue and would appreciate any advice on what to
> > do to resolve it:
>
> > When I enter the € Euro symbol into the database in a SQL statement,
> > I can retrieve it through SQL or the Java front end and see it as a €
> > Euro symbol.
>
> > If I enter the € symbol into the database through the java front end,
> > the java front end can retrieve it as a € Euro symbol, but SQL
> > retrieves it as an inverted question mark, which is a problem.
>
> > I have tried using the oracle function ASCII() to retrieve the value
> > for the character, the value retrieved is different depending on
> > whether the € Euro symbol was entered using SQL or the Java front
> > end.
>
> > The current nls_characterset parameter is AL32UTF8. I'm aware Oracle
> > recommends that 10g databases use UNICODE to cope with all characters.
> > Would this fix the problem? Is there any easier way?
>
> > GilesThe symbol that you posted has an ASCII value of 128.  ASCII values
> above 127 are not standardized across different character sets/code
> pages.  As a demonstration, if you are on a Windows platform, open
> Notepad, hold down the left ALT key and type 0128 on the numeric keypad
> - the Euro symbol will appear.  Now, open a command prompt, hold down
> the left ALT key and type 0128 on the numeric keypad - a question mark
> will appear.  SQLPlus for Windows may display a solid rectangle.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/typography/EuroSymbolFAQ.mspx
> It appears that the euro symbol may appear in multiple positions.  "To
> avoid confusion, the historical character U+20A0 EURO-CURRENCY SIGN has
> been updated with an informative note and a cross reference to U+20AC
> EURO SIGN"
>
> I am not sure if any of the above will be helpful in solving the
> problem that you are experiencing.
>
> Charles Hooper
> PC Support Specialist
> K&M Machine-Fabricating, Inc.- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -
Received on Tue Nov 28 2006 - 12:07:35 CST