16.1.1 Unicode Field Types
- The Unicode field types are Nchar and Nvarchar described in the . These types are analogous to Char and String described in the .
- The Unicode field types allow data to be handled as Unicode throughout an RDMLX application, in the UI and in the database. This means an application can allow data from multiple languages to be displayed and edited, saved in/read from the same database table, or sent to and received from external servers, all without data loss.
- Existing Alpha, Char, and String fields may be changed to Nchar or Nvarchar to enable your existing application to support world-wide multilingual customer data (such as names and addresses) as well as language-specific descriptions for code tables and many other situations. Refer to 16.3 Modifying Existing Applications to use Unicode for more information.
- Nchar and Nvarchar can be displayed and edited on Components and WAMs. Both Unicode field types are supported across LANSA products such as LANSA Integrator, LANSA Client and LANSA Open for .NET.
- Nchar and Nvarchar are handled differently from Char and String with the SUNI attribute. The SUNI attribute indicates that the field is Unicode in the database layer only. Elsewhere, it is handled in the current code page, which means that if you assign an Nchar to a Char with SUNI, data loss may occur unless all data is known to be in the current code page. The use of the SUNI attribute is not recommended when 16.2 Developing New Applications with Unicode .
Also See