store and print UTF-8 data in VFP9 SP2 2

[muralinarayan1968]

Dear All,
I have a text file containing UTF-8 characters (unicode) which i want to import and print using native VFP9 tools.
1. What is the field type i choose in the .dbf
2. Using append how can i import the data
3. How do i print it using reports

Please give me examples using native dbf as backend as i do not know how to use sql.
p.s the data is in hindi (mangal font) and as far as i know there is no code page for the same, someone told me it is 65001 ???

Regards
Murali Narayan

 

[Dan Freeman]

Start here:

http://www.west-wind.com/presentations/foxunicode/foxunicode.asp

The easiest way to deal with this is to bring your text into a memo field, probably. Reporting on it will most likely mean parsing into other fields and/or multiple records, and for that you'll need the techniques in the article.

Good luck!

 

[Olaf Doschke]

In regard to 65001, see "Microsoft code page numbers for various other character encodings"
This is just Microsoft Codepage number for UTF-8

The website

http://www.mydigitallife.info/ansi-...locale-with-identifier-constants-and-strings/

tells us:
0×0439 Windows 2000 and later: Hindi (India) hi-IN Deva Unicode only

So you are right, there is no codepage, Hindi characters are only available as Unicode characters. Then you have no chance using native controls for reporting Hindi text in FRXes or displaying it in forms. Having a locale identifier isn't enough, you need to convert into an ANSI codepage to display texts with native controls. As there is no such codepage, there is no choice, but using ActiveX controls.

ActiveX is just really an option for forms, not for reports. In reports you just can use the OleBOUND control. This differs from the Olecontrol in that you can only bind ole data in there, not just use any activex control.

You rather should look for something else than using VFP, or you end up using the webbrowser control, designing all your forms in HTML and rendering Hindi text into pictures you put into a report. Both is an overhead more complicated than creating a web interface.

You can store unicode in binary char,varchar, memo fields and you can display HTML in UTF-8 of course, so you can use eg WebConnect or some other VFP web application framework to make this a web application. I would rather go to .net for a desktop application in either WPF or Winforms, unless you would need to port much code.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Olaf Doschke]

...see "Microsoft code page numbers for various other character encodings" in [URL unfurl="true"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTF-8[/url]

 

[muralinarayan1968]

Thank you danfreeman, i have gone through the article you have mentioned but i don't think i can use it for reporting.
Thank you olafDoschke, i agree with you maybe VFP is not the platform for this, having said this i have zero experience in .net
I am willing to come to some commercial agreement if someone can develop the code for me or at least a standalone application for this module.

the details can be provided once we agree in principal for the same.

Regards
Murali Narayan