8.3.2.Informix 9.x
Database Configuration
When a database is created, the DB_LOCALE in effect at the time is stored in the system catalog and used throughout the lifetime of the database. Using DBACCESS, create a new database with DB_LOCALE set beforehand to EN_US.UTF8. Specifying UTF8 as the codeset allows the creation of schema objects with names which can contain multibyte characters.
The database locale being used by a database can be viewed in DBACCESS using the menu commands: Database > Info > NLS.
The documentation for Informix GLS states that DB_LOCALE is also used to correctly interpret the locale sensitive datatypes NCHAR and NVARCHAR. The code set specified in DB_LOCALE specifies which characters are valid in any character column as well as the names of database objects.
Setting the Client Locale
The codeset to be used by an Informix client application is specified as part of the client locale. The client locale takes the form:
language_territory.codeset[@modifier]
An Informix 9 Lite driver or agent should use UTF-8 as the codeset. The language and territory should not matter; so it should be possible, for example, to use French (fr_fr) or American English (en_us). For Informix clients on Windows, the client locale is typically set through SetNet32. Rather than rely on the SetNet32 settings, our agent or Lite driver instead sets the client locale at runtime. For an Informix Lite driver on Windows, you must manually add an entry to the registry to set the client locale under the entry for the appropriate DSN in the ODBC.INI hive, add the value:
ClientLocale:REG_SZ:<client locale> e.g. ClientLocale:REG_SZ:EN_US.57372
This example uses a codeset number (57372) rather than a codeset name (UTF8) to specify UTF-8 as the codeset. Either form can be used. The registry file included in an Informix client installation lists the supported code sets and the correspondence between codeset names and numbers.
Driver Configuration
For an Informix agent (on Windows or Unix), specify the CLIENT_LOCALE environment variable setting in the [Environment INFORMIX ] section of the rulebook. For an Informix Unix Lite driver, set the CLIENT_LOCALE environment variable appropriately.