Question

In our web-app we use PHP5.2.6 + PDO to connect to a SQL Server 2005 database and store Russian texts.

Database collation is Cyrillic_General_CI_AS, table collation is Cyrillic_General_CI_AS, column type is NVARCHAR(MAX).

We tried connecting to a database using two following schemes, both causing different problems.

1. PDO mssql:

   $dbh = new PDO ('mssql:host='.$mssql_server.';dbname='.$mssql_db, $mssql_login, $mssql_pwd); 

   in which case a result of a simple query like that:

   SELECT field1 FROM tbl1 WHERE id=1 

   shows field1 data truncated to 255 bytes.

2. PDO odbc:

   $dbh = new PDO ('odbc:DSN=myDSN;UID='.$mssql_login.';PWD='.$mssql_pwd); 

   in which case a result of the same query shows full not truncated data but with question marks instead of Russian symbols.

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Notes:

• In the SQL Management Studio data is not truncated and Russian symbols are displayed properly as well.
• We have Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2

So what should we choose as a connection method and how to fix corresponding issues?

Answer 1

Try executing SET NAMES 'charset' after you connect.

I don’t know what the charset to match Cyrillic_General_CI_AS is, but try ‘Cyrillic’?