Hello johnson_dave2003,

Thursday, March 3, 2005, 11:10:26 PM, you wrote:

> Let me flip the question around - does SQL2003 support a keyword in
> DML for specifying character set?

Yes, it does. And, you can specify a different character set for each
column in a table, as it is know possible in Firebird.

> But you can't change collations in mid stream.
> That is to say, within a single query you can't sort by one column in
> EN_US and the neighboring column in FR_FR, or sort different parts of
> a complex query in different collations.

This might have to be possible, especially if the table contains 2
fields of different characters sets and both of those character sets
don't support the same collations. And, that you are specifying those
2 fields in the order by clause.

Although to some it might not make much sense to use 2 different
character sets within the same table, Firebird does give that ability
and removing it is not wise. As an example, some might use the OCTET
character set to store binary data within a field, but the other
fields are ISO8859-1.

One thing that would be nice to have removed is having to specify a
character set on connection, especially if it's possible to have
multiple character sets defined within the database(i.e.: fields,
domains, etc...).

>> I'm happy quite happy with a shorter and simpler list:
>>
>> 1. Collation specified in query DML
>> 2. Collation declared as default in the session.

Jim, don't forget the field's default collation, before the session's.


--
Best regards,
Daniel Rail
Senior Software Developer
ACCRA Group Inc. (www.accra.ca)
ACCRA Med Software Inc. (www.filopto.com)