Error handling in character set conversion

The SAP ASE character set conversion reports errors when a character exists in the client’s character set but not in the server’s character set, or vice versa.

SAP ASE must guarantee that data successfully converted on input to the server can be successfully converted back to the client’s character set when the client retrieves that data. To do this effectively, SAP ASE must avoid putting suspect data into the database.

When SAP ASE encounters a conversion error in the data being entered, it generates this message:

Msg 2402, Severity 16 (EX_USER):
Error converting client characters into server’s
character set. Some character(s) could not be converted.

A conversion error prevents query execution on insert and update statements. If this occurs, review your data for problem characters and replace them.

When SAP ASE encounters a conversion error while sending data to the client, it replaces the bytes of the suspect characters with ASCII question marks (?). The query batch continues to completion. When the statement is complete, SAP ASE sends the following message:

Msg 2403, Severity 16 (EX_INFO):
WARNING! Some character(s) could not be converted into
client’s character set. Unconverted bytes were changed 
to question marks ('?').