Enforcing a Single Code Page in a Clan


When you use ClearQuest, each client that accesses your ClearQuest databases has its own code page. A code page specifies the set of characters that are valid in a given environment. With ClearQuest, a code page defines the set of characters that are manipulated correctly on a particular client.

Because ClearQuest and ClearQuest MultiSite have limited internationalization support, data corruption can occur when clients using different code pages attempt to modify the same data. These problems are more likely to occur in a MultiSite environment when data from one code page is exported to replicas running different code pages, causing data corruption and divergence (members of a replica family having different values for the same record). Therefore, all databases, database hosts, servers, and clients in a MultiSite environment must use the same code page or limit the data to ASCII characters (required for UNIX clients).

To enforce the use of a single code page and to ensure data integrity, a ClearQuest administrator must set the data code page value for a database set before activating it for replication. The code page of each database must also be set using the vendor database tools. Also, if clients running versions of ClearQuest prior to v2003.06.00 access your databases, the CharacterSetValidation package must be applied to prevent users from entering data from multiple code pages into a database record.

For more information about code pages and the data code page setting for a database set, see the Administrator’s Guide for Rational ClearQuest.