ACC: Mixing Language Editions of Microsoft Access and Windows |
The information in this article applies to:
-
Microsoft Access versions 2.0, 7.0
SUMMARY
Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.
This article discusses the various language editions of Microsoft Access,
their supported character sets (or code pages), and the feasibility of
mixing language editions of Microsoft Access and the operating system.
MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft Access has many editions which have been translated and
customized (or localized) for different languages. These editions are
designed for a specific language of Windows that supports a particular code
page. Ideally, you should match the Microsoft Access edition with the
language of the operating system. For example, if you have Spanish Windows,
then you should run the Spanish edition of Microsoft Access.
However, you may sometimes want to run an edition of Microsoft Access that
is designed for a different language than the operating system. This is
feasible as long as the type of character set (or code page) used by the
operating system supports the language edition of Microsoft Access.
For example, if you have English Windows, you can run European editions of
Microsoft Access (such as Dutch, Swedish, Italian, and others) without
discrepancies in the look, feel, and functionality of the application.
However, if you try to run a Korean, Japanese, or Arabic edition of
Microsoft Access on English Windows, the application may not run or behave
as expected.
The type of character set (or code page) used by the operating system can
limit the mixing of language editions. There are several basic types of
characters sets:
- Single-byte: Supports 256 characters, each identified by a unique
1-byte character value.
- Double-byte (DBCS): Supports thousands of characters, each identified
by a unique 2-byte character value.
- Bi-Directional (BiDi): A single-byte code page that allows for
bi-directional text.
The following tables list the language editions of Microsoft Access and
their types of character sets.
Microsoft Access 7.0
Single-byte
------------------
Brazilian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
English A/Z/AA
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hungarian
Iberian Portuguese
Italian
Norwegian
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai/US
Turkish
Bi-Directional
--------------
Arabic/French
Arabic/US
Hebrew/French
Hebrew/US
Double-byte
-------------------
Chinese Traditional
Japanese
Korean
Microsoft Access 2.0
Single-byte
--------------
Brazilian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
English A/Z/AA
Finnish
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Norwegian
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai/US
Bi-Directional
--------------
Arabic/French
Arabic/US
Hebrew/US
Double-byte
-----------
Japanese
Notes on Mixing Language Editions
Various European language editions use different single-byte code pages.
The Latin languages use the same code page. The Central European languages
(Hungarian, Czech, and Polish) use a different code page. Greek, Turkish,
and Russian each have a separate code page to accommodate their different
characters.
In general, you can mix language editions that are part of the same code
page. For example, you can run a Czech database using the Hungarian edition
of Microsoft Access. Or you can mix a European language database with an
English edition of Microsoft Access. However, to maximize compatibility
between language editions, there are two things to avoid when designing an
application:
- Do not use the localized language in SQL statements or query
expressions; use only English.
- Use English language parameters (rather than localized ones) for the
GetOption and SetOption methods in Visual Basic for Applications.
NOTE: Do not mix two non-English language editions from different code
pages.
Additional query words:
globalization international int'l localize localise
Keywords : kbusage NpdSales
Version : 2.0 7.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo
