UTF-8 Coallition Conversion

[borbole]

This tool will convert the character collation of your database to utf-8.

After you install it, go to your Admin Panel->Maintenance->General Update Tools and all the way to the bottom there is a new option added called: UTF-8 Conversion.

Important: MAKE FIRST A BACKUP OF YOUR DATABASE BEFORE YOU RUN THIS TOOL!

If you will need support/assitence with it, please post at the mod 's thread at my forum.

http://www.forumservices.eu/vb/showthread.php?14-UTF-8-Coallition-Conversion

[thecore762]

Will test this on my test boards :)

[Merjawy]

will test it.

[Boofo]

I'd be interested to hear back from anyone who has run this. What will this mod do to a db that already has the collation set to UTF-8?

[sadiq6210]

Thanks .. great to see this again.
I will test it tomorrow and give you my feedback

[Merjawy]

Well, few minutes ago I tested it on a big forum 4.1.10 (20K users, 25+K threads, close to 100K posts) and everything is still working :)

I am not so sure if it was actually converted or not, the reason I say that is because I have few java scripts that I expected to have issues with but I didn't !...

I will check everything later today and report as I need some sleep now.

EDIT: Checking db via PhpMyAdmin I see it did convert to UTF8... Thanks

[Emeralda]

Could someone explain to a total baka (read: bimbo) what this actually does? I'm kinda curious.

[borbole]

Well, few minutes ago I tested it on a big forum 4.1.10 (20K users, 25+K threads, close to 100K posts) and everything is still working :)

I am not so sure if it was actually converted or not, the reason I say that is because I have few java scripts that I expected to have issues with but I didn't !...

I will check everything later today and report as I need some sleep now.

EDIT: Checking db via PhpMyAdmin I see it did convert to UTF8... Thanks

Thanks .. great to see this again.
I will test it tomorrow and give you my feedback

will test it.

Thank you for testing the mod Merjawy, sadiq6210 and thecore762. Looking forward to hear your results :) I had tested it thoroughly as well before I released it and it worked fine anytime.


I'd be interested to hear back from anyone who has run this. What will this mod do to a db that already has the collation set to UTF-8?

Boofo, if the db 's database collation character is already set to utf-8 then there is no need to run this tool. But even if it is run, there will happen nothing to the db. I have tested it that way too. However, as adviced in the description, it is always best to first make a backup of the database before you do any changes to it.


Could someone explain to a total baka (read: bimbo) what this actually does? I'm kinda curious.

Emeralda, this tool will change the database collition character to utf-8. That is ideal if you use other languages in your forum other than english that have special characters that are not used in English. These characters can turn up weird on your website. For example, tremas and umlauts, ... (?, ?, ...) etc.

[Boofo]

Boofo, if the db 's database collation character is already set to utf-8 then there is no need to run this tool. But even if it is run, there will happen nothing to the db. I have tested it that way too. However, as adviced in the description, it is always best to first make a backup of the database before you do any changes to it.

I guess I was referring to running it in case there were a few table that weren't set as UTF-8, for whatever reason. Does this also set the default collation to UTF-8 for the whole db?

[Merjawy]

I take it back :(

After checking the site again this morning.. I found few issues
1- Although all tables in db have been converted to UTF-8, the sum at the buttom still shows the total tables are still "latin"

2- Arabic language got totally messed up in Mobile styles

3- when I tried to upgrade to latest release 4.1.12PL1, it hung at 41%, had to rerun upgrade script to get it done.

4- Arabic language with all different settings became garbage (windows-1256 and UTF-8)

I even installed a UTF-8 Arabic file that I use on another site and it didn't display right.

That's my latest report.. I am going back to reload the backup and finish my upgrade.. Thanks anyway.. I will try to play with this again later after I am done with restoring my site and getting it back running.

Regards

[borbole]

I guess I was referring to running it in case there were a few table that weren't set as UTF-8, for whatever reason. Does this also set the default collation to UTF-8 for the whole db?

Yes, that will set the collation to utf-8 for the entire database.

I take it back :(

After checking the site again this morning.. I found few issues
1- Although all tables in db have been converted to UTF-8, the sum at the buttom still shows the total tables are still "latin"

2- Arabic language got totally messed up in Mobile styles

3- when I tried to upgrade to latest release 4.1.12PL1, it hung at 41%, had to rerun upgrade script to get it done.

4- Arabic language with all different settings became garbage (windows-1256 and UTF-8)

I even installed a UTF-8 Arabic file that I use on another site and it didn't display right.

That's my latest report.. I am going back to reload the backup and finish my upgrade.. Thanks anyway.. I will try to play with this again later after I am done with restoring my site and getting it back running.

Regards

Thank you for your report. I have tried this tool on several sites, small and medium ones, and I never encountered any issues during my tests. It converted the collation character as it was supposed to and the special characters worked properly.

About the upgrade hang up that you describe, I do not think it is related to my mod as it has nothing to do with that part.

But as long as a database backup is made beforehand then you are covered as you can easily revert back in case of any issues.

[sadiq6210]

I have a forum with +0.5 million posts. I will copy the forum to another database now and start my test for this mod.

BRB

[sadiq6210]

Completed

Actually this product is converting only the structure without the content
After complete try to enter the database from phpmyadmin and read the (post) table, still you cannot read the special characters, what this mod did is the same when you open the database and change the charset for all tables manually.

We need to develop something like this:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=118308
http://www.vcharset.com/

With that mod you will be able to convert the database to UTF-8 and you can read all the special characters from phpmyadmin which means both structure and content has been converted.

[borbole]

Can you please download the new package that I attached and give it another go?

P.s. Does your forum language support utf-8 btw?

[Morpheus NS]

Actually this product is converting only the structure without the content
After complete try to enter the database from phpmyadmin and read the (post) table, still you cannot read the special characters, what this mod did is the same when you open the database and change the charset for all tables manually.

This is true, I was expecting more from this product. It did change the charsets, but content remains the same. Conversion was successful, no problems so far...

[Disco_Dave]

Hi Borbole

I test this on a test site, I was having problems with weird character sets within the forum. This hack has removed them ok, just one thing it has replace all the weird characters to a ? is there a way to fix this?

I would like to run this on the live forum.

Regards,
Dave

[ChiNa]

Wow, What an excellent job! Borbole sir! I am not going to use this now, but I def gave it a 5 Stars, because this will help may out with their forums! Thanks for your amazing work and contribution!

Regards CM

[final kaoss]

Is there any reason/benefit to doing this?

[migratoria]

I have installed vb 5.4. If i use the app are not displayed correctly charachters à ù è ò
This files xml works for vb 5.4?

[MarkFL]

I have installed vb 5.4. If i use the app are not displayed correctly charachters ? ? ? ?
This files xml works for vb 5.4?

No, this product is designed to work with vB 4.

[migratoria]

Hi markFl

You can help me for vb 5.4?
I must to convert the tables of my database from latin1 to utf8 otherwise the vbulletin app does not recognize accented characters à è ù ò etc..