Open Client/Open Server 12.5 unichar supports two-byte characters, supporting multilingual client applications, and reducing the overhead associated with character-set conversions.
Designed the same as the Open Client/Open Server CS_CHAR datatype, CS_UNICHAR is a shared, C-programming datatype that can be used anywhere the CS_CHAR datatype is used. The CS_UNICHAR datatype stores character data in Unicode UCS Transformational Format 16-bit (UTF-16), which is two-byte characters.
The Open Client/Open Server CS_UNICHAR datatype corresponds to the Adaptive Server 12.5 UNICHAR fixed-width and UNIVARCHAR variable-width datatypes, which store two-byte characters in the Adaptive Server database.
As a standalone, Open Client 12.5 applications can use this new functionality to convert other datatypes to and from CS_UNICHAR at the client site, even if the server does not have the capability to process two-byte characters.
