This topic contains information about how to use the solidDB tools with Unicode and non-Unicode databases.
The following solidDB tools can be used to output and import data in the system default locale or a specified locale in both Unicode and partial Unicode databases.
▪ solidDB SQL Editor (solsql)
▪ solidDB Data Dictionary (soldd)
▪ solidDB Export (solexp)
▪ solidDB Speed Loader (solloado)
solcon does not support conversions of data to UTF-8. For example, if an error message that is output to solcon contains Unicode-encoded data, it is not displayed correctly in the console.
The locale to be used in conversions is defined with the command line options when starting the tool.
Option
Description
No option/ Factory setting
The console locale setting is used, unless overridden with the server-side or client-side parameters in the solid.ini file.
If the server-side Srv.ODBCDefaultCharBinding or client-side Client.ODBCCharBinding parameter is set to UTF8, the locale of the console must support UTF-8.
-m
The console locale setting is used, despite the server-side or client-side parameters in the solid.ini file.
-Mlocale_name
The locale console setting is overridden with the locale defined with locale_name. The locale_name depends on the operating system.
For example, in Linux environments, the locale name for the code page GB18030 in Chinese/China is zh_CN.gb18030.
In Windows environments, the locale name for Latin1 code page in Finnish/Finland is fin_fin.1252.
-u
Input/output is forced to UTF-8.
Notes
▪ The solidDB tools use the solidDB ODBC API; this means that if the binding method for character data types is defined with the server-side Srv.ODBCDefaultCharBinding or client-side Client.ODBCCharBinding parameters, this setting also impacts the behavior of the solidDB tools.
▪ The Unicode and partial Unicode databases behave differently in reference to conversions of CHAR and WCHAR data types:
– Unicode databases: Both CHAR and WCHAR data types are converted between the UTF-8/UTF-16 format in solidDB and the locale/codepage defined with the chosen binding method.
– Partial Unicode databases: CHAR data types are not converted; instead, they are handled in the raw (binary) format that is used to store CHAR data in partial Unicode databases.
WCHAR data types are converted between the UTF-16 format in solidDB and the locale/codepage defined with the chosen binding method.
▪ If the server-side or client-side parameters in the solid.ini file are set to use ‘Raw’ binding, you should always use the -m, -M or -u option to override the solid.ini settings.