French Characters display as �

I'm setting up a second website for a company and working with a translator
to create a proper French language version. I used DataAssist in the original version with no problems for a data base that is used for questions and answers. The search, results and details page as well as every other page associated with the data base is in a utf-8 format. My SQL database tables etc are also set to the utf8 format ( utf8_general_ci ). I am currently getting the � character in place of the missing french characters such as é etc. It is on a testing site at the moment, and in translation transition. All the characters show properly on the main pages, so it's only the data assist created pages that seem to have the problem. There must be some discrepancy in the encoding somewhere between the server, database and data assist files, but I can't quite sort this out. You can see the results on the testing page at soutienmpengo.html Type in "Cherchez" into the search box and the returning answer displays the problem. I currently only have this first answer in french until I sort out the rest and receive the rest of my translations for the database.
Thanks, and any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

you need to force the connection to use the UTF-8 character set, however, this is only availbale in mysql 5.2.4 and above.

in the connection file add the following just before the closing php tag "?>"

mysql_set_charset('utf8',$connectionName);

where connectionName is the name of the connection.

Thanks for the quick reply Jason. My server is using mysql version 5.1.56
I will ask if they can update the version, but is there any workaround in case they are not able to accommodate me as soon as I'd like? Thanks.

add this code to the connection file just before that line to define the finction if it does not exist:

if (!function_exists('mysql_set_charset')) {

     function mysql_set_charset($charset, $link_identifier = null)

     {

         if ($link_identifier == null) {

             return mysql_query('SET NAMES "'.$charset.'"');

         } else {

             return mysql_query('SET NAMES "'.$charset.'"', $link_identifier);

         }

     }

}

Thanks Jason.. I'll test this out as soon as I can get to my system. I may have a few more questions.. but this is really great support..

Hi Jason. I put the code into the connection file and it is still displaying the � character.
I most likely have incorrectly placed the code. It was put into the php file in the Connections folder in the Dreamweaver site. Here is what I put in (with the x's representing the sensitive info like passwords and connection info):

<?php
# FileName="Connection_php_mysql.htm"
# Type="MYSQL"
# HTTP="true"
$hostname_xxxxx = "xxx.x.xx.x";
$database_xxxxx = "xxxxxxx";
$username_xxxxx = "xxxxxx";
$password_xxxxx = "xxxxxxxx";
$xxxxx = mysql_pconnect($hostname_xxxxx, $username_xxxxx, $password_xxxxx) or trigger_error(mysql_error(),E_USER_ERROR);
if (!function_exists('mysql_set_charset')) {
function mysql_set_charset($charset, $link_identifier = null)
{
if ($link_identifier == null) {
return mysql_query('SET NAMES "'.$charset.'"');
} else {
return mysql_query('SET NAMES "'.$charset.'"', $link_identifier);
}
}
}
mysql_set_charset('utf8',$connectionName);
?>

Thanks again for your help

Sorry, here's an edit to the last post.. I have removed the last line: " mysql_set_charset('utf8',$connectionName); " due to the version of mysql on my server..

in the line:
mysql_set_charset('utf8',$connectionName);


you need to change "connectionName" to the name of your connection.

that line is just a sample, that you need to modify to use the correct name for your connection.

Thanks Jason! That worked perfectly. I have much to learn. I put that code back in for the last line, as I had removed it previously, not understanding the protocol. Fantastic support.. thanks again..
Doug

you're welcome.