Administrative and Maintenance Tools - UTF-8 Coallition Conversion

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/showt...ion-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]

Originally Posted by 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

Originally Posted by sadiq6210

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

Originally Posted by Merjawy

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.

Originally Posted by 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?

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.

Originally Posted by Emeralda

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]

Originally Posted by borbole

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