More Cf + MySQL 5 + Unicode/UTF-8 Problems

Question

Here is the problem:
I am using a MySQL database that store data in Unicode/UTF-8
(the website/database are in Lao).
Settings:
CF 7.0.2
MySQL 5.0.26
MySQL Defaults: latin1_swedish_ci collation, latin1 encoding
Database Defaults: utf8_general_ci collation, utf8 encoding
These are same on my local computer and on the host
(HostNexus)
The only difference is that my CF uses
mysql-connector-java-3.1.10 driver while the host uses MySQL 3.x
driver (org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver class).
On my local computer everything works just fine, even without
any extra CF DSN settings (i.e. connection string and/or JDBC URL
do not need the useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8 strings
added to show Lao text properly).
On the host, even with the
useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8 added (I have even
tried adding
&connectionCollation=utf8_unicode_ci&characterSetResults=utf8
to the line as well), I only get ??????? instead of Lao text from
the db.
The cfm pages have <cfprocessingdirective> and
<cfcontent> tags set to utf-8 and also have html <meta>
set to utf-8. ALl static Lao text in cfm pages shows just fine.
Is this the problem with the MySQL driver used by the host?
Has anyone encountered this before? Is there some other setting I
have to emply with the org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver class on the host?
Please help!

Answer 1

Thanks for your reply/comments, Paul!
I also think it must be the db driver used on the host... I
just don't understand why the DSN connection string
(useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8 [btw, doesn't really
matter utf8 or UTF-8 - works with both; I think the proper way
actually is UTF-8, since that is the encosing's name used in
Java...]) wouldn't work with it??? I have the hosting tech support
totally puzzled over this.
Don't know if you can help any more, but I have added answers
to your questions in the quoted text below.
quote:
Sabaidee wrote:
> Here is the problem:
> I am using a MySQL database that store data in
Unicode/UTF-8 (the
> website/database are in Lao).
well that's certainly different.
I mean, they are in Lao language, not that they are hosted in
Laos.
> Database Defaults: utf8_general_ci collation, utf8
encoding
how was the data entered? how was it uploaded to the host?
could the data have
been corrupted loading or uploading to the host?
The data was entered locally, then dumped into a .sql file using
utf8 charset and then the dump imported into the db on the host,
once again with utf8 charset. I know the data in the database is
correct: when I browse the db tables with phpMyAdmin, all Lao text
in the db is displayed in proper Lao...
> The only difference is that my CF uses
mysql-connector-java-3.1.10 driver
> while the host uses MySQL 3.x driver
(org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver class).
and does that driver support mysql 5 and/or unicode?
I am sure it does support MySQL5, as I have other MySQL5
databases hosted there and they work fine. I am not sure if it
supports Unicode, though.... I am actually more and more sure it
does not... The strange this is, I am not able to find the java
class that driver is stored in to try and test using it on my local
server... I have asked the host to email me the .jar file they are
using, but have not heard back from them yet...
> On my local computer everything works just fine, even
without any extra CF DSN
> settings (i.e. connection string and/or JDBC URL do not
need the
> useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8 strings
added to show Lao text
> properly).
and what happens if you do use those? what locale for the
local server?
If I use just that line, nothing changes (apart from the 2 mysql
variables which then default to uft8 instead of latin1) -
everything works just fine locally.
The only difference I have noticed between MySQL setup on my
local comp and on the host is that on my comp the
character_set_results var is not set (shows [empty string]), but on
the host it is set to latin1. When I set it to latin1 on my local
comp using &characterSetResults=ISO8859_1 in the JDBC URL
string, I get exactly same problem as on the host: all ???????
instead of Lao text from db. If it is not set, or set to utf8,
everything works just fine.
For some reason, we are unable to make it work on the host:
whatever you add to the JDBC URL string or enter in the Connection
String box in CF Admin is simply ignored...
Do you know if this is a particular problem of the driver
used on the host?
> The cfm pages have <cfprocessingdirective> and
<cfcontent> tags set to utf-8
> and also have html <meta> set to utf-8. ALl static
Lao text in cfm pages
> shows just fine.
db driver then.
I think so too...