Can Greek text be entered to DBISAM database? I know it doesn't support
unicode, but can a computer be set up (say in Greece) so as to be able to
handle Greek text?

Thanks.

--
Trevor Davis
Davis Software
www.dbsonline.com

Not familiar with Greek specifically but it seems to have a codepage
(1253) so if that's complere then it should fit into 8bits just fine.

hence i would say yes it should work

Raul





On 3/16/2014 6:31 PM, Trevor Davis wrote:
> Can Greek text be entered to DBISAM database? I know it doesn't support
> unicode, but can a computer be set up (say in Greece) so as to be able to
> handle Greek text?

> Not familiar with Greek specifically but it seems to have a codepage (1253)
> so if that's complere then it should fit into 8bits just fine.
> hence i would say yes it should work

Does one install codepages or how does one make this work?

My client is in the UK and wants to open another company in Greece. He would
like Greek text for the company in Greece, and I'm guessing maybe even for his
UK company.

Will the codepage typically already be installed on a computer in Greece? Can
he install it on his computer in the UK without messing other things up? And
where does one get a Greek codepage from?

Thanks.

--
Trevor Davis
Davis Software
www.dbsonline.com

Hi Trevor

Windows allows users to choose their language and location for
non-Unicode software.
The Greek code page is built-in.
Your customer just uses the Control Panel to set their preference.

However, the problem with ANSI code pages is that while the ASCII set
used for English is common to all code pages, the local language set
only applies to the chosen page.

This means that for most European languages you can mix English and one
other character set.  So your customer could decide to use the Greek
code page for all their computers and freely exchange the data between
the UK and Grece.  But if one of their computers used a different code
page it would display something other than Greek characters - looking
like rubbish.

Note also that if you use a different code page, you may find that
non-ASCII characters such as the pound sterling, Euro, etc, are not
available.

Unicode solves (most of) these problems.

Malcolm

Great Malcolm,

Thanks for explaining that so well.

--
Trevor Davis
Davis Software
www.dbsonline.com

I tried the following on my computer (XP) and it didn't work for me.

Windows Regional and Language Options:
Regional Options: Greek
Languages | Details | Settings | Default input language: Greek - Greek
Reboot

With an application compiled by Delphi 7 (DBISAM 4.26), I could copy/paste
Greek text to a customer name field, moved to next field, it looked OK, but
after I saved the record and recalled it, the text was ???G??.

With Delphi XE5 (DBISAM 4.37) copy/paste was OK, but just moving to the next
field caused the text to change to ???G??

Here is the Greek text: ???. ?????????
(Hopefully it will stay like this when I post this.. should start with K omega
symbol, triangle)

BTW if you try this Ctrl+C won't work because your keyboard keys will be
different, so use menu options for copy and paste.


--
Trevor Davis
Davis Software
www.dbsonline.com


"Malcolm" <malcolm@spam.will.bounce> wrote in message
news:34C04F46-5B8E-43DE-BB8C-83F32A24111D@news.elevatesoft.com...
> Hi Trevor
>
> Windows allows users to choose their language and location for
> non-Unicode software.
> The Greek code page is built-in.
> Your customer just uses the Control Panel to set their preference.
>
> However, the problem with ANSI code pages is that while the ASCII set
> used for English is common to all code pages, the local language set
> only applies to the chosen page.
>
> This means that for most European languages you can mix English and one
> other character set.  So your customer could decide to use the Greek
> code page for all their computers and freely exchange the data between
> the UK and Grece.  But if one of their computers used a different code
> page it would display something other than Greek characters - looking
> like rubbish.
>
> Note also that if you use a different code page, you may find that
> non-ASCII characters such as the pound sterling, Euro, etc, are not
> available.
>
> Unicode solves (most of) these problems.
>
> Malcolm

Ouch!

I have not actually used DBISAM for years.
So I have resurrected an old VM from Delphi Turbo Pro days!
A quick look shows that each table has an ANSI code page setting.
Have you tried changing that to the Greek page for your test table?
I think you have to do an alter table to change the code page.
I would use DBSys for that.

> I have not actually used DBISAM for years.
> So I have resurrected an old VM from Delphi Turbo Pro days!

Wow thanks for going to all this trouble Malcolm.


> A quick look shows that each table has an ANSI code page setting.
> Have you tried changing that to the Greek page for your test table?
> I think you have to do an alter table to change the code page.
> I would use DBSys for that.

I tried that but it still doesn't work for me.

I did the alter table, changed locale to Greek, alter was successful.
Database System Utility v4.26
Opened the table in DSU, pasted Greek text and just got ???.????
Tried with a Delphi 7 compiled program, paste, save, open ...back to question
marks.

That was with Windows Regional Setting English, and also with Greek and Greek
language as before + reboot.

This was with Windows XP. Should I try a different computer? I have Vista on a
laptop.


--
Trevor Davis
Davis Software
www.dbsonline.com

Hi Trevor

OK, I will see if I can make some time tomorrow to try it out myself.
You are discovering why the industry is making the switch to Unicode.

Thanks Malcolm,

Here is a Word document with some Greek text for testing, sent to me by the
client:
www.dbsonline.com/greek.zip

--
Trevor Davis
Davis Software
www.dbsonline.com


"Malcolm" <malcolm@spam.will.bounce> wrote in message
news:79DD1F73-C540-4932-9674-982CC0482F3C@news.elevatesoft.com...
> Hi Trevor
>
> OK, I will see if I can make some time tomorrow to try it out myself.
> You are discovering why the industry is making the switch to Unicode.
>