[Lazarus] Unicode text stored in database

[Bogusław Brandys]

Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I briefly tried to store some unicode text (UTF-8) into a Firebird
> database and got some strange results in the Lazarus DB components.
> I'm not sure if the issue is in the Sqldb components or in the actual
> GUI DB components of LCL.
> 
> Anyway, can one define a VarChar() field with unicode text? I'm using
> Firebird 2.1.2
> 
> For example:
>     varchar(10) field definition
> 
>  - that would allow max. of 10 ansi characters
>  - what about UTF-8 characters?  Some chars can be anything from 1-4 bytes.
>  - does varchar() use bytes or characters? I believe it's bytes if I'm
> not mistaken.
> 
> If I can't use varchar(), then what? Char() :-( That would waste a lot
> of space, but if I have no alternative, then I guess it will have to
> do.
> 
> [...just did some more Googling...]
> 
>   http://www.firebirdsql.org/manual/migration-mssql-data-types.html
> I found a web page that mentions the migration of SQL Server to
> Firebird. It mentions NVarChar (sql server specific type for unicode
> text) to VARCHAR(x) CHARACTER SET UNICODE_FSS (firebird support). So I
> guess that's what I need to try. But which unicode format is firebird
> going to use? utf-8, utf-16, etc...
> 
> Has anybody successfully used Firebird DB to store Unicode text
> (preferably UTF-8 text)?  Anybody done that with Lazarus?
> 
> Regards,
>   - Graeme -
> 
> 

Hmm..that should be very easy with Firebird 2.1.2 though I've never 
tried yet. Lazarus is UTF-8 based, just set connection setting to UTF8 
and create database with UTF8 collation as default.

Then  in theory you could forget that it's all unicode.

Boguslaw