my stores in western and my Thai script pages are showing as ??????????

[creamcrackers]

Hi
Im making a NEW site in zen cart 1.5

How do i get it in utf8?

Is that the standard now or do i still need to follow instructions for 1.3.9 to update it to utf8???

Please advise where to get instructions to for a new install ZC to utf8 so i can use Thai characters

[DrByte]

For NEW STORES, it assumes UTF8 automatically. http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190424

If you are UPGRADING, then you will need to convert your data manually, using VERY SPECIAL CARE.
NOTE TO ALL FUTURE READERS OF THIS DISCUSSION: If your store does not NEED utf-8 then you DO NOT NEED TO CONVERT ANYTHING. See: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=414

[creamcrackers]

For NEW STORES, it assumes UTF8 automatically. http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190424

If you are UPGRADING, then you will need to convert your data manually, using VERY SPECIAL CARE.
NOTE TO ALL FUTURE READERS OF THIS DISCUSSION: If your store does not NEED utf-8 then you DO NOT NEED TO CONVERT ANYTHING. See: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=414

My 1.3.8 was utf8

I upgraded... chose utf8... but my stores in western and my Thai script pages are showing as ??????????

Im most upset what should i do?

[creamcrackers]

For NEW STORES, it assumes UTF8 automatically. http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190424

If you are UPGRADING, then you will need to convert your data manually, using VERY SPECIAL CARE.
NOTE TO ALL FUTURE READERS OF THIS DISCUSSION: If your store does not NEED utf-8 then you DO NOT NEED TO CONVERT ANYTHING. See: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=414

I am confused that article seems to be telling me to convert it to latin/ISO NOT to change it to UTF8

All the settings in my english.php ARE already for utf8
My configure.php has NO MENTION of DB_CHARSET at all????

the problem ive got is the site wont display those characters. My sites in english but i need to display foreign characters on some pages. Its not a multi language site

[maac2]

You can add extra defines to your configure files, try doing that for db_charset.

[maac2]

I should add... have a safe backup before editing anything relating to the database.

[creamcrackers]

You can add extra defines to your configure files, try doing that for db_charset.

Thanks - yes but the link tells you how to turn it to latin/iso.. not to turn the site to utf8

I now have utf8 added to the config file. English file is utf8. Its not working. What can i do?

There are a few references to latin in the database but not many...

Do i need to find/replace something in the database?

Its crazy because i had already converted my site to utf8 before i upgraded to 1.5 and it was working fine.

[DrByte]

Its crazy because i had already converted my site to utf8 before i upgraded to 1.5 and it was working fine.

Please explain *in detail* what exact steps you took when you did that.

[bimo_in_bali]

For NEW STORES, it assumes UTF8 automatically. http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190424

If you are UPGRADING, then you will need to convert your data manually, using VERY SPECIAL CARE.
NOTE TO ALL FUTURE READERS OF THIS DISCUSSION: If your store does not NEED utf-8 then you DO NOT NEED TO CONVERT ANYTHING. See: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?article=414

Hi Dr.Byte,
I've installed new ZC 1.5.1 and still getting the problem showing chinesse and arabic letters.
In front page (home) I've added words in chinese and arabic (copy pasted from google translate) and it shows up like this:

أ�ضل مزود العود
最好的沉香供应商

Thank you very much in advance for any clues.

[DrByte]

I think the fact I had upgraded to UTF8 was somehow causing the upgrade problem too.

Yes, most likely.

The ideal situation is one where EVERYTHING talks consistently in the same characterset:
- connection to database (DB_CHARSET is 'utf8')
- data in the database (collation)
- PHP language files (encoded as utf8-without-BOM and CHARSET is set to 'utf-8')

In your case it seems as though probably the content of the data in your database isn't clean.
And if it started out as latin1 and you or your customers stuffed multibyte characters into it, then converting the entire database and all its content to utf8 becomes a complicated process ... which needs to be done carefully offline in a test site so you can prepare all your steps to apply to the live site once well tested.