[Lazarus] Lazarus (UTF8) and Windows: SysToUTF8, UTF8ToSys... Is there a better solution?

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Marcos Douglas schrieb:
> On Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 3:18 AM, Hans-Peter Diettrich
> <DrDiettrich1 at aol.com> wrote:

> I started this thread. My problem isn't to use UTF-8 on Windows... my
> problem is use different encodings on the same code, ie, RTL <> LCL.

This mix would cause problems, of course.

> Use functions, always, to convert string between RTL and LCL and
> vice-versa IHMO is wrong because the final code is confusing. In a
> huge application you still need to think "here is UTF-8 or
> ANSI/UTF-16?"

The simplest (feasable) solution IMO is the adaptation of (OS...) string 
types behind the scene, i.e. inside the RTL and widgetsets. Then you can 
have any common encoding in the application and library API, while 
encoding-dependent code is encapsulated in lower level functions 
receiving explicit (Unicode, UTF8String...) string types, so that the 
compiler can insert required conversions. Such explicit parameter types 
also were required for legacy code, where a specific encoding is 
assumed. I'm not sure how this conversion process can be automated or 
supported, perhaps removing/renaming the tradional UTF8... functions 
would help in spotting the procedures that require special attention.

The number of automatic conversions can be reduced in the next step, by 
e.g. adding overrides, or conditional code, for both string types one by 
one, as time permits.

DoDi