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Bulletin |
Character support changes in Browser-based PPRS
18 October 2004
With the introduction of browser-based PPRS functions, PPR databases will no longer support some special characters that have previously been supported. This bulletin describes changes that will be applied to existing characters within PPR databases, and it describes new actions and rules that will be applied beginning with browser-based PPRS registration functions.
Background Information on Character Sets
Browser-based PPRS will use the coded character set named ISO-8859-1. This character set supports special characters such as accented characters used in French and other Latin languages. The HTML coded character set is also based on ISO-8859-1.
Microsoft Windows applications such as the ACOL Desktop Software and word processing software such as Word and WordPerfect may use additional characters that are not part of the ISO-8859-1 character set. Instead, these are characters within a set that is alternatively referred to as Windows ANSI, Windows-1252 or CP1252. When used in an HTML browser environment or when used by systems other than Microsoft Windows, these Windows ANSI / CP1252 characters can be misinterpreted, misrepresented or cause other more severe problems.
For additional information on the relevant coded character sets, please see the following web site:
In English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859-1
In French: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8859-1
PPRS Changes
Beginning immediately, occurrences of characters that are not part of the ISO-8859-1 character set will be replaced with one or more similar ISO-8859-1 characters. The following table lists the most common occurrences of these characters and their replacement values:
| Windows ANSI / CP1252 character | Replacement ISO-8859-1 character(s) | ||
| … | horizontal ellipsis | ... | three periods |
| ‘ | left single quotation | ' | apostrophe |
| ’ | right single quotation | ' | apostrophe |
| “ | left double quotation | " | quotation |
| ” | right double quotation | " | quotation |
| • | bullet | · | middle dot |
| – | En dash | - | hyphen |
| — | Em dash | - | hyphen |
Beginning with browser-based PPRS registration functions, the characters listed in the above table will be replaced automatically prior to registration. The registrant will be notified that characters have been or will be replaced in case the registrant wishes to revise or cancel the registration request. All other characters not included in ISO-8859-1 and not listed in the above table will be rejected as invalid. If an invalid character is detected, the registration request will fail and an error message will be returned to the registrant stating that the registration contains invalid characters.
Changing your practices to prevent entry of invalid characters
Non-ISO-8859-1 characters typically occur within PPR databases as a result of users copying and pasting data from word processing software (e.g. Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect). Word processing software introduces non-ISO-8859-1 characters primarily through the use of "auto correction" and "auto formatting" features. For example, "(tm)" is replaced with a trademark symbol. The above example can result in introduction of an invalid character if the text were subsequently copied to a PPR registration screen. If you wish to disable one or more of these features, please consult Help within your word processing software.
