Using UTF-8

[aquestioner]

Hello, I would like to use the latest version of Zen Cart but would also like my cart to be fully UTF-8 compatible. I found the UTF-8 Add-On but it is for version 1.3.7. Can anyone advise me what would be involved in changing this to work with 1.3.8a?

Would this work:

1. In /includes/languages/ and /admin/includes/languages english.php -

CHANGE:
define('CHARSET', 'iso-8859-1');
TO:
define('CHARSET', 'utf-8');

2. In /includes/classes/db/mysql/query_factory.php change the code by adding two lines 38-39:

FROM:

if ($this->link) {
  if (@mysql_select_db($zf_database, $this->link)) {
     $this->db_connected = true;
     return true;

TO:

if ($this->link) {
  if (@mysql_select_db($zf_database, $this->link)) {
      if (version_compare(mysql_get_server_info(), '4.1.0', '>=')) {
       mysql_query('SET NAMES "utf8"', $this->link);}
    $this->db_connected = true;
    return true;

3. Open up mysql_zencart.sql in \zc_install\sql and change the MyIAAM references:

from: TYPE=MyISAM;
to: TYPE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Is there anything else that needs to be done? I realise I could try but I'm asking for some feedback before spending the time uploading all the files. I'd rather know in advance if this has no chance of working.

Thanks,

AQ

[amilcar]

I have mixed answers to your inquiry :

As per the first point, yes that's correct (but then again, unless you have other accentuated languages or unicode languages installed, you don't need to change the English file)

As per point 2, you need to do that only with fresh install

As per your last point, yes but somehow tables inside do not get changed unless you do them one by one.

I suggest you do a fresh install, start with creating you SQL database first and make sure that the collation is utf8-unicode. Then change the language file as you suggested in point 1. Then upload and install.

One last important point, make sure that all your files (for additional languages are encoded in UTF-8 not Ansi (if you are using Windows).

I hope that helps
Good luck!