--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "zifnabbe" wrote:

> Okay, this is the reason why I used an ASCII column. But since the
> default set is ISO8859_1 I should use CAST for the ASCII column to
> insert/edit records, correct? (ie this is what I think I learned
> correclty from the previous messages)

By "default set", do you mean:
a) the default character of the database
b) your connection character set
c) your operating system's default character set

ad a) There is no interaction at all between the db's
default character set and a differing column character set
(in FB proper - intermediate layers and tools may draw some
[not necessarily helpful] conclusions from the db's default
character set).

ad b) Character set conversion between connection charset
and column charcter set is automatic and need not to be
explicitely specified by CAST. And in the case of ASCII,
even conversion to and from NONE is OK.

ad c) Only OS charcter sets which are not a superset of ASCII
may give problems here.

Peter Jacobi