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Client APIs and toolsYou can use the HCL OneDB™ implementation of client APIs to develop applications for HCL OneDB™ database servers.
GLS User's GuideThese topics describe the Global Language Support (GLS) feature available in HCL® OneDB® products.The HCL OneDB™ GLS User's Guide describes the Global Language Support (GLS) feature available in HCL® OneDB® products.
GLS fundamentalsThe Global Language Support (GLS) feature lets HCL® OneDB® products handle different languages, cultural conventions, and code sets for Asian, African, European, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries.
A GLS localeIn 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.
Collation order for character dataCollation is the process of sorting character strings according to some order. The database server or the client application can perform collation.
Collation supportCollation by HCL OneDB™ database servers depends on the data type of the database column.

Collation support

Collation by HCL OneDB™ database servers depends on the data type of the database column.

The following table summarizes the collation rules.


Column data types	Collating order
CHAR, VARCHAR, TEXT	Code-set order
LVARCHAR	Code-set order
NCHAR, NVARCHAR	Localized order

The difference in collation is the only distinction between the CHAR and NCHAR data types and between the VARCHAR and NVARCHAR data types. For more information about collation, see Character data types. If a locale does not define a localized order, the database server collates NCHAR and NVARCHAR data values in code-set order.

Important: There is an exception to the general rule that CHAR, LVARCHAR, and VCHAR values are always sorted in the code-set order. The MATCHES operator always uses the localized order, if one is defined, to evaluate range expressions for character values, regardless of the data type. See ids_gug_143.html#ids_gug_143.