Guidelines for using multi-byte characters

When you use multi-byte characters in OpenEdge applications, the following guidelines apply:

When choosing a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean font, choose one large enough to display each character cleanly and clearly.

When designing an application that uses Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, leave enough space in the user interface for the IME.

When using multi-byte characters and using a ABL element to calculate the length of a character string or a position within a character string, use the correct unit of measure, whether bytes, characters, or columns. For more information on how to specify bytes, characters, or columns, see the ABL element's reference entry in OpenEdge Development: ABL Reference.

To have the compiler warn you of ABL elements in the source code that should specify the unit of measure but appear not to, start OpenEdge with the Check Double-byte Enabled (-checkdbe) startup parameter. For more information on -checkdbe, see OpenEdge Deployment: Startup Command and Parameter Reference.

When displaying or printing characters, do not assume one character requires one column.

When assigning an accelerator to a menu item or label, use a single-byte character. If you use a multi-byte character, Windows underlines only the first byte.

For example, the following code fragment assigns the accelerator "A" to a button whose label is a double-byte character:

DEFINE BUTTON btn-Test LABEL "

(&A)".

When you use the UNIX character client with double-byte code pages, UNIX strips input characters to seven bits, which might garble data. To avoid this, before starting OpenEdge, enter the following command at the command prompt:

stty -istrip