PL/SQL Developer safe for AL32UTF8

[boigman]

Hi, I have a question about NLS_LANG: I have been using PL/SQL Developer for several years on various Oracle databases, mostly formatted as NLS_LANG=American_America.US7ASCII. We have acquired a new application I have been asked to support, with NLS_LANG=American_America.AL32UTF8. My DBA is concerned that my using a non-Oracle tool like PL/SQL Developer could introduce some sort of corruption into the database. Could someone send me some information I can give her as reassurance? I really don't want to have to use SQL*PLUS.

Thanks,
--Dave

 

[Jimbo1]

Don't know about that particular character set, but have had no problem with UK English (Real Englist - Sorry; couldn't resist that dig. ;o)).

I think your DBA's being unduly paranoid!

We're currently using this tool with the database parameter NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET set to AL16UTF16. I've not seen any corruption, and we've been performing XMLDB-related operations on CLOBS.

Why don't you just try PL/SQL Developer on a development DB with NLS_LANG set to American_America.AL32UTF8?

What kind of corruption is your DBA afraid of? Can you get her to be more specific?

 

[boigman]

Well, she noticed the warning box I was getting when first starting PL/SQL Developer:

"Database character set (AL32UTF8) and Client character set (WE8MSWIN1252) are different. Character set conversion may cause unexpected results."

Her understanding is that Oracle tools like SQL*Plus will automatically convert the client character set to the database set, but she doesn't know whether PL/SQL Developer will do that.

 

[Marco Kalter]

It will work okay, but if you execute SQL statements or compile PL/SQL code with Unicode characters outside the WEMSWIN1252 character set, you may get unexpected results. That is what the warning is about.

Viewing and editing table data with Unicode characters will work just fine in this setup.

 

[Worker]

Wouldn't manually changing your client characterset (NLS_LANG, in the registry) from WE8MSWIN1252 to AL32UTF8 resolve any issues?