string length in database

[finlander]

-- database expertise requested --

I am trying to make the language selection drop-down list box present the languages in their native form/appearance, which is in line with current trends in web design. For example, Русский язык instead of Russian, Español instead of Spanish, etc.

A little background: when saving native characters when working in Admin panel, the database converts them to UTF-8 decimal form (&#decnumber;) for storage in the database. And, of course, saving the UTF-8 decnumber obviously is stored as UTF-8 decimal. Also, when working directly in the database, the Cyrillic stored directly is unrecognized, so that isn't an option.

The following is the full string of UTF needed for rendering Русский язык:

& #1056;& #1091;& #1089;& #1089;& #1082;& #1080;& #1081; & #1103;& #1079;& #1099;& #1082;
spaces added to allow rendering on this page/post

However, that database field can only hold 32 characters, so in the example of Русский язык, only the first four Cyrillic letters are stored (using UTF-8 decnumber) in the database.

The drop-down listbox does fine with Français, because I only had to enter a single UTF-8 decnumber for the single character c-cedilla. Spanish is also easily handled for the same reason, but Russian is a problem.

Can anyone think of a solution for a language that requires several characters to be stored as UTF-8? Or any specific enlightenment that may contribute toward a workaround?

thank you ...

[stevesh]

I got lost around the second 'decnumber' , but couldn't you just use phpMyAdmin to increase the number of characters that field can hold ?

[finlander]

steve, my apologies for taking so long to reply -- I forgot to subscribe to my own thread!

Yeah, I think/hope you are right, then I could enter the really long string (in unicode) in the database. Then, the Cyrillic word, Русский язык, for 'Russian', would render in the drop-down list box.

I've not ever changed the max length allowed for database fields, but I imagine it's pretty easy. I'll look around for the setting.

[RodG]

I've not ever changed the max length allowed for database fields, but I imagine it's pretty easy. I'll look around for the setting.

Yes, using phpMyAdmin (or similar) makes it very easy to change the size of the fields.

One word of warning... enlarging the field size is never a problem, but should you ever *reduce* a field size you can instantly and irretrievably destroy data.
IOW, if you intend to enter '255' make sure you don't have a dicky keyboard and enter '25' because you don't get much of a warning.

Cheers
Rod