Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
Installation and Configuration

Environment variables of the SQL client

OpenEdge contains the environment variables SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET and SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET_PROMSGS for SQL clients. You can use these variables to internationalize your applications. These environment variables determine the code page the client uses to display the following:

Database data from the server.
PROMSGS from the server.
Notes: You should set SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET only if you want clients to use a code page that is different from the code page the client operating system uses.
You should set SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET_PROMSGS only if you want run-time messages to use a code page that is different from either the code page the client operating system uses, or the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET.

If you do not set either of these environment variables, then the SQL client code page will correspond to the language of the client operating system.

Code page client uses to display data

To display database data from the server, the client uses the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET, if you have set this environment variable on the client machine. Otherwise, the client uses the code page of the client’s operating system.

If you want to specify an SQL client code page that is different from the client operating system, you can set the SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET environment variable to the name of a Progress code page. When you set this variable to a code page, the SQL server converts text data that is sent from the server to the client to the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET. The server also uses this code page when it converts text data that is sent from the client to the server to the server code page.

Code page client uses to display PROMSGS from the server

To display PROMSGS from the server, the client uses the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET_PROMSGS, if you have set this environment variable. Otherwise, the client uses the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET, if you have set this environment variable. If you have set neither of these environment variables, then the client uses the code page of the client’s operating system.

If you want run-time messages at the SQL client to use a different code page from either the client operating system or the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET, you can set the SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET_PROMSGS environment variable. When you set this variable to a code page, the SQL server converts run-time messages that are sent from the server to the client to the code page set by SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET_PROMSGS.

Note: The SQL_CLIENT_CHARSET_PROMSGS environment variable applies to SQLDUMP and SQLLOAD, which are actually SQL applications.