Updating SQL data on a web host

[johnhodgson]

I need to 'fix' some data in an SQL database on a web host.

Making a remote view of the table opens some of the fields as memo fields with every other character being a non-displayable character [I think they are chr(0)]. I've tried turning on and off the character translation in the ODBC data source, with no effect.

Can anyone point out the elementary mistake I'm making?

Thanks
John Hodgson

 

[Mike Lewis]

John,

It sound like the server is storing the data as Unicode (or some other double-byte character set).

VFP does not have a native way of dealing with that. You could easily write a little conversion routine using the STRCONV() function to strip out the leading characters. However, I don't think there is any way of restoring those characters when you want to write the data back to the server.

The only other solution I can think is to acquire a third-party Unicode control; this would read the data into an edit box, let you edit it, and then write it back. But that seems like a bit of overkill for what should be a simple requirement.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

 

[Mike Lewis]

John,

One other idea, off the top of my head ....

You could perhaps create a temporary table on the server, using 8-bit ASCII characters rather than Unicode. Then, copy the data from the original table to the temp table; access the temp table in your remote view; update the temp table; and copy it back to the original table.

For that to work, the data would have to be in an 8-bit character set. Assuming you are working in English, that won't be a problem.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

 

[johnhodgson]

Mike

Very belatedly, thanks. We solved the problem by converting the SQL table, as there was absolutely no need for it to be unicoded.

John

 

[Mike Lewis]

John,

Glad that solved it. You should also find that general performance on the server should be better now that you've got rid of the Unicode.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk