Unicode/Multi byte character sets and Forms 4.5

Hi,

Have anyone had any experiecence with Unicode or multibyte databases and Forms 4.5?

A scenario: A field in the database, say "name", is declared as varchar2(255). This means it can contain up to 255 bytes. So in a multibyte charset it can contain less, depending on the actual characters used. Say it contains a string of 127 2-byte characters.

When read into a Forms variable also declared varchar2(255) there should be no problems, but what about string operations on that variable. If I have "part_one varchar2(40)" and I do:   part_one := substr(name,1,40);
I will get a value error, since the returned string is 80 bytes wide, right?
[Quoted] How about the "Length" and "InStr" functions. Do they operate on characters or bytes? [Characters I would assume].

Is there any alternative to combing all your forms for string operations and adjusting lengths accordingly?

Please also email any advice to cje_at_stibo.com. Thanks in advance.

Claus Jensen

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Claus Jensen            The Stibo Technology Group...since 1794
Stibo Datagraphics Inc.
400 Franklin Road       E-mail:        cje_at_stibo.com
Marietta                Phone:         (001) 770 425 3282, ext. 197
GA 30067-7735           Fax:           (001) 770 425 3012


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