Thread: Character set conversion
Hi All, I have a client application that uses an 8 bit character set that is not supported by Postgresql. I'm using UTF-8 to store data within my database and would like to create a character set conversion converting between my native set and Postgresql. I have all the information I need as far as which 8bit value should be mapped to what UTF-8 'character'. I read in the documentation about the 'Create conversion' command writing a function to do the conversion job. Is this the best way forward or are there better ways to attempt this? Is there any sample code available for implementing such a conversion? I don't want to reinvent the wheel here... -- Kindest Regards, Bastiaan Olij e-mail/MSN: bastiaan@basenlily.nl web: http://www.basenlily.nl Skype: Mux213 http://www.linkedin.com/in/bastiaanolij
Bastiaan Olij <lists@basenlily.nl> writes: > I read in the documentation about the 'Create conversion' command > writing a function to do the conversion job. Is this the best way > forward or are there better ways to attempt this? Is there any sample > code available for implementing such a conversion? I don't want to > reinvent the wheel here... Look into the PG source code under src/backend/utils/mb/conversion_procs. While an add-on conversion procedure isn't too hard, I don't think there's any way to define a whole new encoding without modifying the source code --- the encodings are listed in some hard-coded tables in the C code rather than being defined by a system catalog. It wouldn't be too hard if you don't mind running a custom Postgres build; but if you do, then the best answer might be to cannibalize one of the existing encoding names and just replace its conversion procedures. regards, tom lane
On Mon, July 21, 2008 10:16 am, Tom Lane wrote: > It wouldn't be too hard if you don't mind running a custom Postgres > build; but if you do, then the best answer might be to cannibalize one of > the existing encoding names and just replace its conversion procedures. Actually, I'd recommend not doing that. Instead, put in your encoding as a new encoding, and send a diff of your changes to the Postgres team. I bet next release it would be a supported encoding, and you would be able to upgrade without any issues... Daniel T. STaal --------------------------------------------------------------- This email copyright the author. Unless otherwise noted, you are expressly allowed to retransmit, quote, or otherwise use the contents for non-commercial purposes. This copyright will expire 5 years after the author's death, or in 30 years, whichever is longer, unless such a period is in excess of local copyright law. ---------------------------------------------------------------