I assumed that you could write your data to a delimited file and have Perl call on Access to import it using a VB macro. As far as I can tell, this would work, no matter how the text is structured.
Since you prefer to write into the database file, the problem apparently becomes one of translating UTF-8 to UTF-16 before insertion. That is a very simple Perl script, and the conversion function is available in several libraries. Why is this a problem? If that isn't the answer, it means that I don't understand the question. In that case, an example is in order, showing the input data, the transformed data in UTF-8, and the data to be inserted into Access in UTF-16, plus any other transformations you need to make along the way, and a clear demonstration of whatever is wrong with the result. > -----Original Message----- > From: Rui Ribeiro [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2001 5:29 AM > To: Edward Cherlin; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: UTF-16 -> UTF-8 > > > Hi Edward, > > > > You can tell Access about the encoding when you import a file. > > > > In Access 2000, open the File menu, and on the Get External > Data submenu, > > select Import. The file browser dialog box will open. > > The problem with this is that I cannot simply import the > file, because I have structured text. The texts I'm working with are > medieval portuguese dictionaries, following a dictionary > structure, although a bit different one, and I need to recognize the > different parts of the structure. That's why I'm using Perl - > to parse the text. > In the end the limitation of writing to the database from > Perl in Unicode can be overcome if I don't encode the text files in > Unicode and use the codes the original transcribers used to > represent the required characters (for exemple, =i to represent an I > with a tilde). I can transform the codes to Unicode chars in > the database. I was looking for a more elegant solution, but > if I can't > find one I'll have to live with that. > > Thanks for your suggestion, though. > > Regards > > Rui Ribeiro >
