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Unicode
Use of a single character set that encompasses all languages eliminates the need to
have various character sets for various languages. For example, to display a multibyte
language such as Japanese, the NLS_LANG environment variable must be set to the
following:
NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS
To display a single-byte language such as German, NLS_LANG must be set to the
following:
NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.WE8ISO8859P1
The obvious disadvantage of this scheme is that applications can only display
characters from one character set at a time. Mixed character set data is not possible.
With the Unicode character set, you can set the character set portion of NLS_LANG to
UTF8 instead of a specific language character set. This allows characters from different
languages and character sets to be displayed simultaneously. For example, to display
Japanese and German together on the screen, the NLS_LANG variable must be set to
one of the following:
NLS_LANG=JAPANESE_JAPAN.UTF8
NLS_LANG=GERMAN_GERMANY.UTF8
Unicode capability gives the application developer and end user the ability to display
multilingual text in a report. This includes text from a database containing Unicode,
multilingual text, text in graphical user interface (GUI) objects, text input from the
keyboard, and text from the clipboard. OracleAS Reports Services currently supports
Unicode on Windows.
18.5.2 Unicode Font Support
OracleAS Reports Services relies on the operating system for the font and input
method for different languages. To enter and display text in a particular language, you
must be running a version of the operating system that supports that language. Font
support is limited but not restricted to the operating system font.
Windows NT release 4.0 and later versions provide True Type Big Fonts. These fonts
contain all the characters necessary to display or print multilingual text. If you try to
type, display, or print multilingual text and see unexpected characters, then you are
probably not using a Big Font. Big Fonts provided by Microsoft under Windows NT
release 4.0 and later, are as follows:
■ Arial
Note: If you develop applications for the Web, then you can use
Unicode because of the Unicode support provided by Java through
the browser.
■ Courier New
■ Lucida Console
■ Lucida Sans Unicode
■ Times New Roman
Third-party Unicode fonts are also available.
18-10 Oracle Application Server Reports Services Publishing Reports to the Web