[Info-vax] character set translation for language accents

[Bob Koehler]

In article <2c7f1359-7d41-419a-9d5a-4e0041c14912 at k38g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, jcwoman1963 at hotmail.com writes:
> I'm writing an interface between some software that runs on Windows
> and my software that runs on VMS, and having a problem with character
> set translation.  The Windows software is using a character set that
> enables accented characters.  I'm not sure exactly which one (utf-?)
> but the user interface for the software is in French.  When it sends
> text data through my interface, it's sending the accented characters.
> 
> When the data comes into my program on VMS, the accented characters
> have been lost/removed.  My software is running on VMS 8.3 on
> Integrity.  Is there some way to make it accept/handle the accented
> characters properly?

   You're going to have to tell us more about how the connection between
   Windows and VMS is made, as well as the character sets in use on both
   ends.  Standard sockets will not alter bytes, but naked sockets are 
   not typically used for data that includes font information.

   What character set are you using on Windows (this may be chosen by
   the software you are running)?  If you are using an MS character set 
   you should not expect anything else to recognise it.  If you are using 
   ISO-Latin-1, VMS will recognise that on the assumption it is DEC MCS.  
   What are you using on VMS to display the text? X11 windows on VMS
   will recognise a great many standard fonts, but perhaps not the ones
   you are using.

   And beware of things like MS "smart quotes".  These are done in
   violation of character set standards and will not show up correctly
   on most systems.