SQLite and cyrillic in filepath
lazarus / 16-Databases

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wizbowes · 2014-10-27 00:21

I have a user of an application who has an issue.  The application
creates a database in the app data of the user.  The path is found
something like this:

Code: [Select]DBConnection.DatabaseName :=
GetEnvironmentVariable('appdata') + '\MyPath\MyDatabase.db';
However it throws an error 'DBConnection: Unable to open database
file'

Upon some investigation the user is Russian and therefore there are
Cyrillic letters in the file path returned above.  I'm guessing that
SQLite doesn't like cyrillic in the file path. 

I can't find anything on Google about this.  Is there an alternative I
can use - I really don't want to move the database location.

Any ideas gratefully received.

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engkin · 2014-10-27 03:32

My guess: DBConnection.DatabaseName needs UTF8 string. You did not
mention your Lazarus/FPC version. On the trunk, GetEnvironmentVariable
has two variations:
Code: [Select]  Function GetEnvironmentVariable(Const EnvVar :
AnsiString) : AnsiString;
        Function GetEnvironmentVariable(Const EnvVar : UnicodeString)
: UnicodeString;
I would suggest using the second one and converting the result to UTF8
using UTF16ToUTF8 from LazUTF8.

If your Laz/FPC version does not include the second function and you
don't want to update, you can use GetEnvironmentStringsW and parse the
result yourself.

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minesadorada · 2014-10-27 06:07

In the FileUtil unit is GetAppConfigDirUTF8 which might be a more
elegant solution than using the Environment Var

http://lazarus-
ccr.sourceforge.net/docs/lcl/fileutil/getappconfigdirutf8.html

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Zoran · 2014-10-27 10:53

Quote from: minesadorada on October 27, 2014, 07:07:30 amIn the
FileUtil unit is GetAppConfigDirUTF8 which might be a more elegant
solution than using the Environment Var

http://lazarus-
ccr.sourceforge.net/docs/lcl/fileutil/getappconfigdirutf8.html

Yes, I agree, it is the proper way, as described here: http://wiki.fre
epascal.org/Multiplatform_Programming_Guide#Configuration_files
Only, as minesdorada says, instead of GetAppConfigDir and
GetAppConfigFile, you should use the UTF8 versions of these functions,
defined in LCL's FileUtil unit: GetAppConfigDirUTF8 and
GetAppConfigFileUTF8.

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minesadorada · 2014-10-27 12:35

The DatabaseName property also might need the UTF8ToSys() function
(also in fileutil) in order to cope with the result of
GetAppConfigDirUTF8 depending on whether it is UTF8-aware.

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Zoran · 2014-10-27 16:40

Quote from: minesadorada on October 27, 2014, 01:35:31 pmThe
DatabaseName property also might need the UTF8ToSys() function (also
in fileutil) in order to cope with the result of GetAppConfigDirUTF8
depending on whether it is UTF8-aware.

Hm... Then UTF8 from GetAppConfigDirUTF8 would be neutralized,
wouldn't it?

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minesadorada · 2014-10-27 16:48

The original problem was an error.

GetAppConfigDirUTF8 gets the UTF8 correct string = No error

If an error is thrown because the DB code is not UTF8 enabled, then
UTF8ToSys localizes it to the system default = No error

I was trying to think ahead..

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wizbowes · 2014-10-27 20:39

Thanks all - will give that a whirl.  I really hate unicode.