Re: charset problem with '¤' ?

Sam wrote:
> I'am afraid you are right ...
>
> Thus, i have another question: is it possible to change the charset
> from WE8ISO8859P15 to
> WE8ISO8859P15 or should i uninstall/install my instance ?
> If it's possible "dynamically", what's the impact on the existing data
> ?
>
> Thanks for your precious help
> Samuel
>

(I assume you mean from 'p15 to something else, and that "dynamically" means "without taking the database offline")

Um, never actually done that myself. Found the following from Google on "oracle change character set":

http://oracle.ittoolbox.com/documents/document.asp?i=1601

The effects on the existing data depend on the current characterset, new characterset and whether or not the data conforms to the characterset; if you've used the nasty hack to insert data that doesn't conform to the charset then that data will almost certainly be trashed. So if you've got an ¤ in the database represented by a Euro, and you change charset to one that defines ¤ but not Euro, then that ¤ will be lost.

Definitely make sure you've got a valid backup before you start.

You shouldn't need to reinstall any software to change the characterset.   You might consider creating a new database as a possible alternative to changing the current one, then use exp/imp and verify/fix the new database, then redirect the clients to the new database, then finally delete the old one if it's no longer needed. As far as I know (which admittedly isn't far in this case) it should be possible to do this without taking anything offline, whereas the above note more or less starts with a SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE.

Dave. Received on Tue Aug 30 2005 - 06:47:41 CDT