SQL Developer and UTF8

In this global economy the need for software globalization is increasing. As a result of this globalization, localization is becoming an important part of software development. And as a result of this localization, software developers like myself will have to work with multiple languages. So, it is becoming more crucial to have development tools that support multi-byte in addition to single-byte characters, like Chinese versus English for example.

As an Oracle database developer I have been using Quest Software Inc.’s SQL Navigator for years. We are currently involved in the implementation of Oracle E-Business Suite in our new plant in China. So, now we have the Chinese characters to worry about. It turns out that SQL Navigator does not support multi-byte characters and UTF8 encoding (which is needed to display Chinese characters), however, Oracle’s SQL developer does :)

Here is how SQL Navigator displays a query result that returns Chinese characters:

sql_navigator_utf8.gif

And here is the same query in SQL developer:

sql_developer_utf8.gif

SQL Navigator developers are going to include UTF8 support in the next release (5.5) which should be out by the end of summer.

Does TOAD support UTF8? Just curious.

Update:

Thanks to Braj, I was able to make SQL Navigator display Chinese characters. Here’s what you have to do (on Win XP):

  1. Go to your computer’s “Control Panel”
  2. Open the “Regional and Language Options”
  3. In the “Regional Options”, change the “Standards and formats” to “Chinese (PRC)” and Change the Location to “China”
  4. In the “Advanced” tab, change the “Language for non-Unicode programs” to “Chinese (PRC)”
  5. Restart your computer.

Now, you need to set the NLS_LANG environment variable. Here is how you do it:

  1. Go to your computer’s “Control Panel”
  2. Open “System”
  3. Select the “Advanced” tab
  4. Click on the “Environment Variables” button
  5. Click on the “New” button under “System variables”
  6. Enter NLS_LANG in the “Variable name”
  7. Enter AMERICAN_AMERICA.ZHS16GBK in the “Variable value”
  8. Click “OK” three times to exit the “System” properties window
  9. Start SQL Navigator
  10. Run a query that returns Chinese characters

You should see “real” Chinese characters in the query result. Of course, you will have to know Chinese to read the query result :)

To revert back to English (or whatever language you had before), just undo what you did in the steps above.

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