Charset DataFlex Reference Documentation

Charset

Current Version: 10.0.0

A component/class for converting character data from one encoding to another. This software is unique in that the data required for converting to/from the supported charsets is entirely embedded witin the Chilkat DLL/library. It does not depend on what code pages may or may not be installed on a particular computer. This allows programs to operate correctly regardless of the locale, OS version, or other factors.

Object Creation

// (Dataflex programs use the 32-bit Chilkat ActiveX)
Handle hoCharset
Get Create(RefClass(cComChilkatCharset)) to hoCharset

Properties

AltToCharset
Function ComAltToCharset Returns String
Procedure Set ComAltToCharset String value

If the ErrorAction property is set to 6, then this property controls how errors are handled. It specifies an alternate "To" charset. When a character in the input data cannot be converted to the target charset, an attempt is made to convert it to the AltToCharset. If that fails, the input character is dropped.

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DebugLogFilePath
Function ComDebugLogFilePath Returns String
Procedure Set ComDebugLogFilePath String value

If set to a file path, causes each Chilkat method or property call to automatically append it's LastErrorText to the specified log file. The information is appended such that if a hang or crash occurs, it is possible to see the context in which the problem occurred, as well as a history of all Chilkat calls up to the point of the problem. The VerboseLogging property can be set to provide more detailed information.

This property is typically used for debugging the rare cases where a Chilkat method call hangs or generates an exception that halts program execution (i.e. crashes). A hang or crash should generally never happen. The typical causes of a hang are:

  1. a timeout related property was set to 0 to explicitly indicate that an infinite timeout is desired,
  2. the hang is actually a hang within an event callback (i.e. it is a hang within the application code), or
  3. there is an internal problem (bug) in the Chilkat code that causes the hang.

More Information and Examples
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ErrorAction
Function ComErrorAction Returns Integer
Procedure Set ComErrorAction Integer value

Controls how errors are handled. When a character in the input data cannot be converted to the target charset, the action taken is controlled by this property. The possible settings are: (0) drop the error characters, (1) substitute the data set by the SetErrorBytes or SetErrorString method, (2) convert to a hex-escaped string (&#xXXXX), (3) RESERVED, (4) RESERVED, (5) RESERVED, (6) convert the error character to the AltToCharset instead, if that fails then drop the character, (7) Pass non-convertible characters to the output unchanged.

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FromCharset
Function ComFromCharset Returns String
Procedure Set ComFromCharset String value

Tells the charset converter the charset of the input data for a conversion. Possible values are:

<font size="2" face="MS Sans Serif">
us-ascii
unicode  (also known as UTF16LE or simply UTF16)
unicodefffe  (also known as UTF16BE)
ebcdic
iso-8859-1
iso-8859-2
iso-8859-3
iso-8859-4
iso-8859-5
iso-8859-6
iso-8859-7
iso-8859-8
iso-8859-9
iso-8859-13
iso-8859-15
windows-874
windows-1250
windows-1251
windows-1252
windows-1253
windows-1254
windows-1255
windows-1256
windows-1257
windows-1258
utf-7
utf-8
utf-32
utf-32be
shift_jis
gb2312
ks_c_5601-1987
big5
iso-2022-jp
iso-2022-kr
euc-jp
euc-kr
macintosh
x-mac-japanese
x-mac-chinesetrad
x-mac-korean
x-mac-arabic
x-mac-hebrew
x-mac-greek
x-mac-cyrillic
x-mac-chinesesimp
x-mac-romanian
x-mac-ukrainian
x-mac-thai
x-mac-ce
x-mac-icelandic
x-mac-turkish
x-mac-croatian
asmo-708
dos-720
dos-862
ibm01140
ibm01141
ibm01142
ibm01143
ibm01144
ibm01145
ibm01146
ibm01147
ibm01148
ibm01149
ibm037
ibm437
ibm500
ibm737
ibm775
ibm850
ibm852
ibm855
ibm857
ibm00858
ibm860
ibm861
ibm863
ibm864
ibm865
cp866
ibm869
ibm870
cp875
koi8-r
koi8-u
</font>

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LastBinaryResult
Function ComLastBinaryResult Returns Variant

The binary data returned by the last (binary data returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepBinaryResult is set to True. This provides a means for obtaining large varbinary results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting large amounts of data returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for binary properties).

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LastErrorHtml
Function ComLastErrorHtml Returns String

Provides information in HTML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastErrorText
Function ComLastErrorText Returns String

Provides information in plain-text format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastErrorXml
Function ComLastErrorXml Returns String

Provides information in XML format about the last method/property called. If a method call returns a value indicating failure, or behaves unexpectedly, examine this property to get more information.

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LastInputAsHex
Function ComLastInputAsHex Returns String

If SaveLast is set to true, then the input and output of a conversion is saved to allow the exact bytes that are sent to the converter to be seen (for debugging purposes). This property shows the last input data in a hexidecimalized string.

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LastInputAsQP
Function ComLastInputAsQP Returns String

If SaveLast is set to true, then the input and output of a conversion is saved to allow the exact bytes that are sent to the converter to be seen (for debugging purposes). This property shows the last input data in a quoted-printable string.

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LastMethodSuccess
Function ComLastMethodSuccess Returns Boolean
Procedure Set ComLastMethodSuccess Boolean value

Indicate whether the last method call succeeded or failed. A value of True indicates success, a value of False indicates failure. This property is automatically set for method calls. It is not modified by property accesses. The property is automatically set to indicate success for the following types of method calls:

  • Any method that returns a string.
  • Any method returning a Chilkat object, binary bytes, or a date/time.
  • Any method returning a standard boolean status value where success = True and failure = False.
  • Any method returning an integer where failure is defined by a return value less than zero.

Note: Methods that do not fit the above requirements will always set this property equal to True. For example, a method that returns no value (such as a "void" in C++) will technically always succeed.

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LastOutputAsHex
Function ComLastOutputAsHex Returns String

If SaveLast is set to true, then the input and output of a conversion is saved to allow the exact bytes that are sent to the converter to be seen (for debugging purposes). This property shows the last output data in a hexidecimalized string.

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LastOutputAsQP
Function ComLastOutputAsQP Returns String

If SaveLast is set to true, then the input and output of a conversion is saved to allow the exact bytes that are sent to the converter to be seen (for debugging purposes). This property shows the last output data in a quoted-printable string.

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LastStringResult
Function ComLastStringResult Returns String

The string return value of the last (string returning) method called. Only available if Chilkat.Global.KeepStringResult is set to True. This provides a means for obtaining large string results in the SQL Server environment (where limitations exist in getting long strings returned by method calls, but where temp tables can be used for string properties).

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LastStringResultLen
Function ComLastStringResultLen Returns Integer

The length, in characters, of the string contained in the LastStringResult property.

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SaveLast
Function ComSaveLast Returns Boolean
Procedure Set ComSaveLast Boolean value

Tells the component to keep the input/output byte data in memory after a conversion is complete so the data can be examined via the LastInputAsHex/QP and LastOutputAsHex/QP properties. (for debugging purposes)

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ToCharset
Function ComToCharset Returns String
Procedure Set ComToCharset String value

Tells the charset converter the target charset for a conversion. Possible values are:

<font size="2" face="MS Sans Serif">
us-ascii
unicode  (also known as UTF16LE or simply UTF16)
unicodefffe  (also known as UTF16BE)
ebcdic
iso-8859-1
iso-8859-2
iso-8859-3
iso-8859-4
iso-8859-5
iso-8859-6
iso-8859-7
iso-8859-8
iso-8859-9
iso-8859-13
iso-8859-15
windows-874
windows-1250
windows-1251
windows-1252
windows-1253
windows-1254
windows-1255
windows-1256
windows-1257
windows-1258
utf-7
utf-8
utf-32
utf-32be
shift_jis
gb2312
ks_c_5601-1987
big5
iso-2022-jp
iso-2022-kr
euc-jp
euc-kr
macintosh
x-mac-japanese
x-mac-chinesetrad
x-mac-korean
x-mac-arabic
x-mac-hebrew
x-mac-greek
x-mac-cyrillic
x-mac-chinesesimp
x-mac-romanian
x-mac-ukrainian
x-mac-thai
x-mac-ce
x-mac-icelandic
x-mac-turkish
x-mac-croatian
asmo-708
dos-720
dos-862
ibm01140
ibm01141
ibm01142
ibm01143
ibm01144
ibm01145
ibm01146
ibm01147
ibm01148
ibm01149
ibm037
ibm437
ibm500
ibm737
ibm775
ibm850
ibm852
ibm855
ibm857
ibm00858
ibm860
ibm861
ibm863
ibm864
ibm865
cp866
ibm869
ibm870
cp875
koi8-r
koi8-u
</font>

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VerboseLogging
Function ComVerboseLogging Returns Boolean
Procedure Set ComVerboseLogging Boolean value

If set to True, then the contents of LastErrorText (or LastErrorXml, or LastErrorHtml) may contain more verbose information. The default value is False. Verbose logging should only be used for debugging. The potentially large quantity of logged information may adversely affect peformance.

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Version
Function ComVersion Returns String

Version of the component/library, such as "9.5.0.94"

More Information and Examples
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Methods

CharsetToCodePage
Function ComCharsetToCodePage String charsetName Returns Integer

Converts a charset name to a code page number. For example, "iso-8859-1" converts to code page 28591.

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CodePageToCharset
Function ComCodePageToCharset Integer codePage Returns String

Converts a code page number to a charset name. For example, 65001 converts to "utf-8".

Returns null on failure

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ConvertData
Function ComConvertData Variant inData Returns Variant

Converts character data from one charset to another. Before calling ConvertData, the FromCharset and ToCharset properties must be set to the source and destination charset names, such as "iso-8859-1" or "Shift_JIS".

Returns null on failure

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ConvertFile
Function ComConvertFile String inPath String destPath Returns Boolean

Converts a file from one character encoding to another. The FromCharset and ToCharset properties specify the source and destination character encodings. If the ToCharset is utf-16 or utf-8, then the preamble (also known as BOM) is included in the output. (Call ConvertFileNoPreamble to suppress the output of the BOM.)

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ConvertFileNoPreamble
Function ComConvertFileNoPreamble String inPath String destPath Returns Boolean

Converts a file from one character encoding to another. The FromCharset and ToCharset properties specify the source and destination character encodings. No preamble (also known as BOM) is included in the output.

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ConvertFromUnicode
Function ComConvertFromUnicode String inData Returns Variant

Converts Unicode (utf-16) text to the charset specified by the ToCharset property.

Returns null on failure

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ConvertFromUtf16
Function ComConvertFromUtf16 Variant uniData Returns Variant

Converts utf-16 text to the charset specified by the ToCharset property.

Returns null on failure

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ConvertHtml
Function ComConvertHtml Variant inData Returns Variant

Converts HTML text from one character encoding to another. The FromCharset and ToCharset properties must be set prior to calling this method. This method automatically edits the META tag within the HTML that indicates the charset.

Returns null on failure

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ConvertHtmlFile
Function ComConvertHtmlFile String inPath String destPath Returns Boolean

Converts an HTML file from one character encoding to another. The ToCharset properties must be set prior to calling this method. If the FromCharset is not set, it is obtained from the HTML META tag that indicates the charset. This method automatically edits the META tag within the HTML that indicates the charset.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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ConvertToUnicode
Function ComConvertToUnicode Variant inData Returns String

Converts multibyte character data to a Unicode string. The FromCharset property should be set before calling this method.

Returns null on failure

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ConvertToUtf16
Function ComConvertToUtf16 Variant mbData Returns Variant

Converts the mbData to utf-16 bytes.

Returns null on failure

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EntityEncodeDec
Function ComEntityEncodeDec String str Returns String

Converts non-US-ASCII characters to Unicode decimal entities (&#xxxxx;)

Returns null on failure

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EntityEncodeHex
Function ComEntityEncodeHex String str Returns String

Converts non-US-ASCII characters to Unicode hex entities (&#xXXXX;)

Returns null on failure

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GetHtmlCharset
Function ComGetHtmlCharset Variant inData Returns String

Examines HTML text and extracts the charset name specified by the META tag, if present.

Returns null on failure

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GetHtmlFileCharset
Function ComGetHtmlFileCharset String htmlFilePath Returns String

Examines an HTML file and extracts the charset name specified by the META tag, if present.

Returns null on failure

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HtmlDecodeToStr
Function ComHtmlDecodeToStr String inStr Returns String

Converts HTML entities to Unicode characters.

Returns null on failure

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HtmlEntityDecode
Function ComHtmlEntityDecode Variant inHtml Returns Variant

Decodes HTML entities. See http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/sgml/entities.html for information on HTML entities. Examples of HTML entities are &lt; , &#229; , &#xE5; , &#x6C34; , &Iacute; , etc.

Returns null on failure

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HtmlEntityDecodeFile
Function ComHtmlEntityDecodeFile String inPath String destPath Returns Boolean

Decodes HTML entities in a file and creates a new HTML file with the entities decoded. See http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/sgml/entities.html for information on HTML entities. Examples of HTML entities are &lt; , &#229; , &#xE5; , &#x6C34; , &Iacute; , etc.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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LowerCase
Function ComLowerCase String inStr Returns String

Converts a string to lowercase.

Returns null on failure

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ReadFile
Function ComReadFile String path Returns Variant

Convenience method for reading the entire contents of a file into a byte array.

Returns null on failure

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ReadFileToString
Function ComReadFileToString String path String charset Returns String

Reads a text file and returns the text converted to a Unicode string. The filename is specified by the first method argument, and the charset of the text data is specified by the 2nd method argument.

Returns null on failure

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SetErrorBytes
Procedure ComSetErrorBytes Variant data

If the ErrorAction property is set to 1, the bytes passed to this method are used as the result for any characters that cannot be converted during a conversion.

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SetErrorString
Procedure ComSetErrorString String str String charset

If the ErrorAction property is set to 1, the string passed to this method is used as the result for any characters that cannot be converted during a conversion.

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UpperCase
Function ComUpperCase String inStr Returns String

Converts a string to uppercase.

Returns null on failure

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UrlDecodeStr
Function ComUrlDecodeStr String inStr Returns String

URL decodes a string.

This method assumes the ANSI byte representation was used for encoding. For example, the letter É, where the ANSI charset is Latin-1, would appear as "%C9" when URL encoded. (As opposed to the utf-8 encoding where É is represented by 2 bytes 0xC3, 0x89 and would appear as "%C3%89" when URl encoded. This method assumes ANSI encoding.

You can use encoding/decoding methods in Chilkat's StringBuilder class to specify the charset from which to decode or encode.

Returns null on failure

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VerifyData
Function ComVerifyData String charset Variant inData Returns Boolean

Returns true if the byte data conforms to the charset passed in the first argument.

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VerifyFile
Function ComVerifyFile String charset String path Returns Boolean

Returns true if the file contains character data that conforms to the charset passed in the 1st argument.

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WriteFile
Function ComWriteFile String path Variant byteData Returns Boolean

Convenience method for saving an entire byte array to a file.

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WriteStringToFile
Function ComWriteStringToFile String textData String path String charset Returns Boolean

Converts a Unicode string to a multibyte charset and writes the multibyte text data to a file. The destination charset is specified in the 2nd method argument.

Returns True for success, False for failure.

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