Getting started with SQL Server
I'm researching the SQL Server 2005 requirements for an application that will support five code pages:
I would plan to use only Unicode data types.
I'm unsure how collation figures in to this scenario. If all character data's stored as Unicode, do I need to consider which collation I use If so, is it possible to have a single collation that supports these five diverse code pages
Thank you.
Loosely speaking, unicode is a variation of a data type that allows you to store more characters that you see on an English keyboard while a collation is a sub set of all the characters you can store.
overview for Sql Server collations:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/f/3/cf382f77-0c44-4a4b-b437-58718bc6998e/Unicode%20and%20Collation%20Support%20in%20Microsoft%20SQL%20Server_c.ppt
General information.
http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/
http://microsoft.com/globaldev/
Thank you lkh for the PowerPoint presentation.
Given my 5-language requirement, and acknowledging your above assertion that collation is a character subset, is there a "correct" server collation I should choose when I install SQL Server
Am I approaching this problem correctly What I mean by that is given the 5-language requirement, am I correct in thinking that I need to make a collation decision at the server level Or does this problem's inherent complexity dictate negate starting at that server level I.E. You cannot support five languages with a server collation and I need to, instead, think about setting collation at the more granular table or column level
Thanks.
Yes only one server level collation. The rest depends on your business rules.
I have seen solutions that have one column in a table for each collation or one table for each collation for say a customer table.
Another link:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa902644(SQL.80).aspx