+13Hi!
I'm trying to define the encoding for my shp but directly on the dbf and not on the cpg. I choose UTF-8 on the parameters and I always have a .cpg file.
I looked on the shp writer help and I saw this sentence :
"The output Shapefile .dbf will contain the language driver ID for the selected or detected encoding, if no language driver ID is available for the encoding, a .cpg file may be generated instead."
I don't understand what is a "language driver ID ". Can you explain ?
Thanks!
Best answer by debbiatsafe
Hi @alc33
I asked our development team for clarification.
Language drivers are used to determine how to sort and display characters in tables. In a DBF file, the language driver ID is stored in the file header, at byte offset 29.
When FME writes a .dbf file with a .cpg, the language driver ID is set to 0. If the encoding does have a driver ID, no .cpg file is created.
The reason FME creates a .cpg file for UTF-8 encoded files is because there is no language driver ID for UTF-8. The DBase version Shapefile uses predates the introduction of UTF-8, so there probably was never a consideration made for it later on. Modern applications know to check for the .cpg file and figure things out from there.
I hope this information helps!
+21Hi @alc33
I asked our development team for clarification.
Language drivers are used to determine how to sort and display characters in tables. In a DBF file, the language driver ID is stored in the file header, at byte offset 29.
When FME writes a .dbf file with a .cpg, the language driver ID is set to 0. If the encoding does have a driver ID, no .cpg file is created.
The reason FME creates a .cpg file for UTF-8 encoded files is because there is no language driver ID for UTF-8. The DBase version Shapefile uses predates the introduction of UTF-8, so there probably was never a consideration made for it later on. Modern applications know to check for the .cpg file and figure things out from there.
I hope this information helps!
