Create data source in BI 7.0?

Question

hi,
while creating data source in BI 7.0 , ( from flat file data)
under extraction tab:
character set settings : default and direct entry is there
if i select direct entry i am getting character set and replacement character.
what scenerio we use direct entry and what scenerio we use default. if i select direct entry what is effect for my output.
please clarify.
regards
ss

Answer 1

<b>System Default or Fixed Entry</b>
If you choose <b>Default Setting</b> for the character set, in Unicode systems a file in UTF-8 format is expected, in non-Unicode systems a file in the format of the system code page is expected.
If you choose <b>Direct Input</b> for the character set, you can select an SAP character set and determine a replacement character, in case errors occur while converting to the system character set.
<b>SAP Character Set ID</b>
The 4-character name of an SAP character set as defined in SAP character set maintenance.
The following explains the naming convention in more detail:
First digit: Code
0 EBCDIC character sets
1 ASCII character sets
2 mixed single byte / double byte character sets
4 double-byte character sets
6 mixed character sets
8 double byte and multibyte character sets
9 reserved for code pages you define
Second digit: Country
1-3 countries that use the Latin alphabet (Western Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa)
4-6 countries that use non-Latin alphabets and writing systems (Eastern Europe, Asia, Arabic countries in Africa)
7-9 reserved for special languages
Third and fourth digits: Sequential number
Example
0100 IBM 00697/00273 (Latin 1 - Germany/Austria)
0401 SNI BS2000 8859-5 EHCLC (cyrillic - multiple languages)