Since WE8ISO8859P1 is not a strict subset of UTF8, you will need to recreate the database. Since you need to recreate, take to opportunity to upgrade to 8.1.7.4 or 9.0.2
Also, I would suggest upgrading to at least Dev 6i, patchset 6 (6.0.8.15), but
preferable patchset
10 (6.0.8.19). This resolved a lot of UTF8 issues we had.
Also, see note below from metalink.
Also realize that your services (forms, reports, listener,etc) sould also run in a
UTF8 environment.
It will be up to the client to translate to the required regional encoding.
Also realize that printing will now become an issue. Most printers can not handle
UTF8 encoded
data. You will need to investigate the PASTA print utility, or optionally, run a
separate report
server for each regional environment.
Also realise...
As you can see, this is not a decision to be made lightly. I'm still struggling with
some of these
issues. I support an Oracle Applications installation that is multi-national (US,
Brazilian
Portuguese, and Simplified Chinese)- it's been loads of fun!
---------------------
## We know that
WE8ISO8859P1 is not a strict subset
of UTF8,
## so is a DB
receation required to use the new Char
Set?
Yes, it is.
## What are the
implications of this conversion?
All strings that are
not pure ASCII (codes 0-127)
will expand because
the non-ASCII WE8ISO8859P1
characters will
occupy 2 bytes each. This must be
accounted for in the
new table definitions.
## Please outline the
steps in performing this
conversion.
General steps are:
- Use the Character
Set Scanner (see otn.oracle.com)
to verify
that all your
WE8ISO8859P1 data in the old database
are Convertible (no
Exceptions). Illegal WE8MSWIN1252
characters
(like the TM sign,
smart quotes, etc.) may appear in
WE8ISO885P1
databases used with
Windows clients
- Create a new UTF8
database
- If you have scripts
to create your application
tables, correct
the scripts to make
table columns long enough and
create
the new schemas
- If you do not have
the scripts, export the old
database
with ROWS=N, import
it and use ALTER TABLE to make
the necessary
length changes
- Export the old
database with ROWS=Y; make sure to
set NLS_LANG
to .WE8ISO8859P1
before the export
- Import the old
database data with IGNORE=Y; make
sure the NLS_LANG
is still
.WE8ISO8859P1
This basic steps may
need refinement due to possible
non-NLS related
issues with full export/import but
this would be out of
scope of my answer.
## What should be the
NLS_LANG , NLS_CHARACTERSET
parameters?
NLS_CHARACTERSET is
the database character set, i.e.
it would be UTF8.
NLS_LANG would depend on the way
you implement
multiple language support in your
application.
See
http://otn.oracle.com/tech/globalization/content.html
for some interesting
white papers.
Ron Thomas
Hypercom, Inc
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Each new user of a new system uncovers a new class of bugs. -- Kernighan
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
09/25/02 01:13 PM cc:
Please respond to Subject: RE: Help on Effect of
changing NLS_LANGUAGE to
ORACLE-L maerican_america.u
Sorry Gurus
The database version is: 8.1.6.0.0
Reports: 6.0.5.28.0
Forms: 6.0.5.2
Current NLS_LANGUAGE: AMERICAN
Current NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET: WE8ISO8859P1
Current NLS_CHARACTERSET: WE8ISO8859P1
Current NLS_CALENDAR: GREGORIAN
Appreciate your response
Shiva
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 1:38 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
maerican_america.utf8
What version of the database? What version of forms/reports? What
platform? What is the current
characterset of the database?
Ron Thomas
Hypercom, Inc
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Each new user of a new system uncovers a new class of bugs. -- Kernighan
7
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
09/25/02 10:03 AM cc:
Please respond to Subject: Help on Effect of
changing NLS_LANGUAGE to
ORACLE-L maerican_america.utf8
Hi Gurus
We customize pharmaceutical processing industry applications. One of our
client is going global. The
client needs to change NLS_LANGUAGE setting to
NLS_LANG="american_america.utf8".
I would like to know how to change this and
what impacts will it have on reports and forms already custom developed for
this client?
There are some barcode checksum calculation procedures for some reports.
Will they get impacted by
changing the NLS_LANG?
A input on this is highly appreciated
Regards
Shiva Baswannappa
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