A general concept for string encoding is implemented in EDMsix to enable storing of UNICODE UTF-8 characters in EDMmodels. All EDMdatabases have a default string encoding configuration parameter EDM_DEFAULT_STRING_ENCODING. Through EDMInterface operations this property of the EDMdatabase may be changed. The default string encoding is ISO‑LATIN‑1.
The following string encodings are supported by EDMsix, EDM_DEFAULT_STRING_ENCODING
- UTF-8
- ISO-LATIN-1
- ISO-LATIN-2
- ISO-8859-3
- ISO-8859-4
- ISO-8859-5
- ISO-8859-6
- ISO-8859-7
- ISO-8859-8
- ISO-8859-9
The ISO 10303-21: STEP Physical File (SPF) format specification defines a string encoding style (SPF string encoding) that covers all UNICODE characters. For SPF read/write operations, EDMsix provides conversion between SPF and ISO-LATIN-1/UTF-8 string encoding. Hence, a SPF read/write operation can only be performed on an EDMmodel with string encoding set to ISO‑LATIN‑1 or UTF‑8. The UTF‑8 string encoding covers all characters defined in the UNICODE character set. In a SPF read operation, a recoverable error will be reported when an encoded character in a SPF is detected that cannot be encoded in the string encoding defined for the actual EDMmodel to populate.