--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "Alan McDonald" <alan@...> wrote:

>
> > I want a case insensitive collation that will place all
> > non-alpha characters before alpha characters. I'm not too
> > concerned where numbers are, as long as they are in order
> > and proceed alphas.
>
>
> sounds like all you need to do is add a calculated column filled by a
> trigger with the result UPPER(name)
> and index this column and order by it when selecting.
> I'm not up on the state of UTF8 but yes the create table statement

will need

> to include the collations - RTFM(?) Helen's book.
> You're sure you want to use UTF8? why not distribute a UTF8 when the

need

> really arises?
> Alan

Thanks Again Alan:

I'm attracted to collation, it seems to solve all of my
problems.

But I overlooked the an obstical to what should be a
perfectly good solution.

Encryption.

When the application is started, the user is asked to enter
a pass phrase, which is hashed into a crypto key.

Columns that are indexed, or might be used for WHERE
statements aren't encrypted, but personal information is.

So there is clear text, amount of money paid and received,
zip or postal codes, are examples of information that may be
in a where clause, and need to be in clear text.

But I'm reluctant to hand a clear text name to a potential
attacker.

My C++ application uses a C crypto library.

I'm just starting the PSQL chapter of Helen's book. Is
it possible for PSQL to call C++ for heavy lifting? And
have PSQL hand a clear text name to the collation?

Thanks again
Larry