This topic contains information about how to use the solidDB tools with Unicode and partial 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)
solidDB Remote Control (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.
▪ 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 parameter, Srv.ODBCDefaultCharBinding (see Srv section) or client-side parameter, Client.ODBCCharBinding (see Client section), 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 format in solidDB and the locale/codepage that is 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 that is defined with the chosen binding method.
Command line options for solidDB tools for partial Unicode and Unicode databases
The following table describes the command line options for the solidDB tools when you use partial Unicode and Unicode databases:
Option
Description
No option specified
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 parameter, Srv.ODBCDefaultCharBinding, or client-side parameter, Client.ODBCCharBinding, is set to UTF8, the locale of the console must support UTF-8.
-m
The console locale setting is used regardless of the values in the server-side or client-side parameters in the solid.ini file.
-Mlocale_name
The locale console setting is overridden with the locale that is defined with locale_name; the value 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.
Note If either the server-side or client-side parameter in the solid.ini file is set to Raw, you should always use the -m, -M, or -u option to override the solid.ini parameter values.