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Client APIs and tools
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of client APIs to develop applications for Informix database servers.
API
The Informix® GLS API Programmer's Guide describes the global language support (GLS) application programming interface (API) available in Informix ESQL/C and HCL Informix DataBlade® modules.
Character processing
These topics describe the character-processing capabilities of the library.
Character operations
The library supports character classification, case conversion, and code-set conversion operations on multibyte and wide characters.
Code-set conversion
A character might be encoded differently on two different operating systems. Therefore, the appropriate communication layer must be prepared to convert between the two encodings.
Perform code-set conversion
Specify code-set names
You can specify the names of the source and destination code sets with either locale names, code-set names, or the IFX_GL_PROC_CS macro.

Client APIs and tools
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of client APIs to develop applications for Informix database servers.
- Change Data Capture API Programmer's Guide
  The Informix® Change Data Capture API Programmer's Guide describes how to program applications to process changed data from HCL Informix databases using the Informix Change Data Capture API.
- Embedded SQLJ for HCL Informix®
  The Informix® Embedded SQLJ User's Guide contains information about using Informix Embedded SQLJ.
- ESQL/C Guide
  The Informix® ESQL/C Programmer's Manual explains how to use Informix ESQL/C, the Informix implementation of Embedded Structured Query Language (SQL) for C (ESQL/C), to create client applications with database-management capabilities.
- GLS User's Guide
  The Informix® GLS User's Guide describes the Global Language Support (GLS) feature available in Informix products.
- API
  The Informix® GLS API Programmer's Guide describes the global language support (GLS) application programming interface (API) available in Informix ESQL/C and HCL Informix DataBlade® modules.
  - Using Informix® GLS
    The library enables a program to access the culture-specific information in the GLS locales that Informix® provides.
  - Character processing
    These topics describe the character-processing capabilities of the library.
    - Types of characters
      A GLS locale supports a particular code set, which maps characters to unique bit patterns called code points.
    - Character operations
      The library supports character classification, case conversion, and code-set conversion operations on multibyte and wide characters.
      - Character classification
      - Case conversion
        In many languages, alphabetic characters have an uppercase and lowercase representation. Your application must not assume the case equivalent for a particular character.
      - Code-set conversion
        A character might be encoded differently on two different operating systems. Therefore, the appropriate communication layer must be prepared to convert between the two encodings.
        Determining if code-set conversion is needed
        The ifx_gl_conv_needed() function determines whether characters encoded in a source code set require conversion to a destination code set. Use this function to determine if code-set conversion is needed.
        Perform code-set conversion
        Determine when to allocate a destination buffer
        Whether you can perform code-set conversion on multibyte characters in place depends on whether the number of bytes written to the destination buffer is the same as the number of bytes read from the source.
        Specify code-set names
        You can specify the names of the source and destination code sets with either locale names, code-set names, or the IFX_GL_PROC_CS macro.
        Preserve state information
        Most code sets are not state dependent; that is, the characters of these code sets can be decoded with only one algorithm, and each byte sequence represents a unique character.
        Performance issues
    - String operations
      The library supports string traversal and string processing operations on multibyte-character and wide-character strings.
    - Other operations
      In addition to the operations on characters and strings, the library provides support for terminating characters and strings, allocating memory for characters and strings, and truncating and fragmenting strings.
  - Data formatting
    You must handle the format of locale-specific data in your applications.
  - Informix® GLS functions
    These topics describe the functions that the library provides. First is a summary of functions by categories. The rest of the topics provide reference information about the public functions, in alphabetical order.
  - Appendix
- Informix® Object Interface for C++ Guide
  The Informix® Object Interface for C++ Programmer's Guide describes how to develop HCL Informix client applications by using the object-oriented C++ programming language.
- Informix® ODBC Driver Guide
  The Informix® ODBC Driver Programmer's Manual serves as a user guide and reference for Informix ODBC Driver, which is the Informix implementation of the Microsoft™ Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface, Version 3.0.
- .NET provider options
  The Data Server Provider for .NET DB2® provider option is the preferred Informix® provider for developing new applications.
- Informix® JDBC Driver Guide
  The Informix® JDBC Driver Programmer's Guide describes how to install, load, and use Informix JDBC Driver to connect to the Informix database from within a Java™ application or applet.
- Informix International Language Supplement (ILS) User Guide
  These topics include information about the translated user interface files for Informix® UNIX™ products, locales, and code set conversion tables
- Informix® OLE DB Provider Guide
  The Informix® OLE DB Provider Programmer's Guide describes the software requirements for using Informix OLE DB Provider, show how to install and configure the provider for your use, and explain how to use Informix OLE DB Provider to enable client applications, such as ActiveX Data Object (ADO) applications and web pages, to access data on the Informix server.

Specify code-set names

You can specify the names of the source and destination code sets with either locale names, code-set names, or the IFX_GL_PROC_CS macro.

Locale names
For information about locale names, see the Informix® GLS User's Guide.
Code-set names
You can find the names of code sets in code-set name registry.
The code-set name registry is in %INFORMIXDIR%\gls\cmZ for Windows™ and in $INFORMIXDIR/gls/cmZ for UNIX™.
In the preceding path names, INFORMIXDIR is the environment variable that specifies the directory where you install the HCL Informix® product, and Z represents the version number for the code-set object-file format.
The IFX_GL_PROC_CS macro
This macro specifies use of the code set of the current processing locale. Depending on the context, the value of IFX_GL_PROC_CS is based on either the client environment or the database that the database server is currently accessing.

The preceding formats are valid as code-set names in any of the following functions:

ifx_gl_conv_needed()
ifx_gl_cv_mconv()
ifx_gl_cv_outbuflen()
ifx_gl_cv_sb2sb_table()