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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.
GLS User's Guide
The Informix® GLS User's Guide describes the Global Language Support (GLS) feature available in Informix products.
GLS fundamentals
The Global Language Support (GLS) feature lets Informix® products handle different languages, cultural conventions, and code sets for Asian, African, European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.
GLS locales with HCL Informix® products
HCL Informix® products use GLS locales for several tasks.
Support for non-ASCII characters
HCL Informix® products obtain the code set from its GLS locale. Locales are available for both single-byte and multibyte code sets.

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.
  - GLS fundamentals
    The Global Language Support (GLS) feature lets Informix® products handle different languages, cultural conventions, and code sets for Asian, African, European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.
    - Character-representation conventions
      The examples in this documentation use ASCII characters to represent both single-byte and multibyte characters. Multibyte characters are usually ideographic (such as Chinese characters). Multibyte and single-byte characters are represented abstractly.
    - The GLS feature
      In a database application, some of the tasks that the database server and the client application perform depend on the language and culture conventions of the data that they handle.
    - A GLS locale
      In a client/server environment, both the database server and the client application must know which language the data is in to be able to process the application data correctly.
    - Set a GLS locale
      For the database server and the client application to communicate successfully, you must establish the appropriate GLS locales for your environment.
    - GLS locales with HCL Informix® products
      HCL Informix® products use GLS locales for several tasks.
      - Support for non-ASCII characters
        HCL Informix® products obtain the code set from its GLS locale. Locales are available for both single-byte and multibyte code sets.
      - Establish a database connection
        To establish a database connection, the GLS locales performs a series of steps.
      - Perform code-set conversion
        In a client/server environment, character data might need to be converted from one code set to another if the client or server computer uses different code sets to represent the same characters. The conversion of character data from one code set (the source code set) to another (the target code set) is called code-set conversion.
      - Locate message files
        HCL Informix® products use GLS locales to locate product-specific message files. By default, HCL Informix products automatically search a subdirectory that is associated with the client locale for the product-specific message files.
    - Customize display formats
      You can override some display formats in the client locale.
  - GLS environment variables
    HCL Informix® products establish the client, database, and server locales with information from GLS-related environment variables and from data that is stored in the database.
  - SQL features
    These topics explain how the GLS feature affects the Informix® implementation of SQL.
  - Database server features
    These topics describe how the GLS feature affects the database server.
  - General SQL API features (ESQL/C)
    These topics explain how the GLS feature affects applications that you develop with the Informix® Client Software Development Kit.
  - Informix® ESQL/C features
    These topics explain how the GLS feature affects Informix® ESQL/C, an SQL application programming interface (API).
  - Appendix
    This section contains additional reference information.
- 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.
- 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.

Support for non-ASCII characters

HCL Informix® products obtain the code set from its GLS locale. Locales are available for both single-byte and multibyte code sets.

All supported code sets define the ASCII characters. Most also support additional non-ASCII characters (8-bit or multibyte characters). For more information about code sets and non-ASCII characters, see Code sets for character data.

The following types of GLS locales are examples of locales that contain non-ASCII characters in their code sets:

The default locale supports the default code set, which contains 8-bit characters for non-English characters such as é, ñ, and .
The name of the default code set depends on the platform on which your HCL Informix® product is installed. For more information about the default code set, The default code set.
A nondefault locale, zh_cn.utf8, contains a multibyte code set. (The unified Chinese code set is GB18030-2000.)

For the contexts in which you can use non-ASCII characters, including multibyte characters, see SQL features, Database server features, and General SQL API features (ESQL/C).

For the HCL Informix® product to support non-ASCII characters, however, it must use a locale that supports a code set with the same non-ASCII characters.