Sapnote 0000838402

SAP Note 838402 - Problems within non-Unicode system
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Note Language: English Version: 33 Validity: Valid Since 28.06.2012
Summary
Symptom
Problems without Unicode
Other terms
Unicode, MDMP, Single code page
Reason and Prerequisites

Non-Unicode code pages support only a small portion of the world-wide
existing character sets. Any character conversion based on these code pages
therefore bears the risk of silent data loss.
Solution
New releases of SAP NetWeaver and SAP applications based on SAP
NetWeaver, released in 2007 or later, will no longer support new
installations of non-Unicode systems. See also the attached customer
letter Customer_Letter_64_U.pdf from April 11th 2006 (also available at
www.service.sap.com/platforms).
Existing non-Unicode systems are still supported, but due to the intrinsic
limitations of non-Unicode code pages SAP recommends a conversion to
Unicode, especially when upgrading system to Netweaver 7.0 (ERP 2005) and
higher releases.
Problems can occur after any upgrade, even whithout applying new
applications, e.g. in case.existing applications are redesigned based on
new technologies.
The following problems can arise from implied limitations of non-Unicode
code pages:
1. Only languages that can be covered by one single non-Unicode code page
can be supported within each non-Unicode system.
2. Some characters that are used in your language are not supported by
the installed non-Unicode code page:
a) e.g. Western European (ISO-Latin-1) Installations:

EURO SIGN and TRADE MARK SIGN are not supported
b) e.g Japanase Installations:

The characters listed in attachment Missing_Japanese.rar are not
supported.
JIS X 2004 standard is not supported.
Characters defined in JIS0213, but missing in SAP code page 8000 or
Microsoft code page 932. These characters are available only in
Unicode based systems (this stays true also, if the used locale of
the operating system is supporting these characters).
c) e.g. Traditional Chinese Installations:

The characters listed in attachment Missing_trad_Chinese.rar are
not supported
3. Integration with Unicode based technologies

Most technologies used within an SAP application context are Unicode
based. When using these technologies together with a non-Unicode SAP
system uncontrolled data loss can occur. This affects:
02.08.2012 Page 1 of 3
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a) Components written in Java

See also note 975768 (Deprecation of Java features with non-Unicode
backend)
Note: ERP 2005 contains Java components which should not be used in
a Non-Unicode ERP 2005.
b) MS-Office Integration
In MS-Office user can enter any Unicode character. These might get
lost silently when data are passed to non-Unicode backend.
c) HTTP/HTML
In Web based frontend any Unicode character can be entered. These
might get lost silently when data are passed to non-Unicode
backend.
Web based frontends like ITS and BSP cannot handle broken
multibyte characters at the end of a field correctly. This may
result in wrong display of the html page (for example, html source
code fragments appear on the screen).
d) SOA
Intention of SOA is to provide standardized and reliable business
processes between independent components (which may be provided by
different vendors). A conversion from Unicode to non-Unicode during
communication would bear the risk of silent data loss and
contradict to the intendend reliability. Therefore SOA in
connection with Non-Unicode backend systems is deprecated and
should not be implemented in new projects. See also note 1358929.
e) Technology independent
During data exchange the length and the binary sort order of the
data may change. This can cause unexpected side effects (especially
for Asian languages).
It is a strategic target of SAP to move our customer base to Unicode. End

of support for non Unicode based systems for future releases is being
discussed internally.
Header Data
Release Status: Released for Customer
Released on: 28.06.2012 12:21:42
Master Language: English
Priority: Recommendations/additional info
Category: Consulting
Primary Component: BC-I18-UNI I18N Unicode
The Note is release-independent
02.08.2012 Page 2 of 3
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Related Notes
Number Short Text
1489357 No support for code page 1810 in release 7.00 and higher
1413544 Implementation recommendations for SCM 5.0
1400236 Prerequisites for Xcelsius usage with NetWeaver BI/BW
1359215 Technical prerequisites for using enterprise services
1358929 Deprecation of SOA features with non-Unicode Backend
1319517 Unicode Collection Note
975768 Deprecation of Java features with non-Unicode Backend
910707 Linux: Japanese locale (ja_JP.SJIS) on Linux
869757 Table TCUSC correction after Unicode conversion
832393 Release Restrictions for SCM 5.0
658052 TREX 6.1/7.00: additional info about TREX ABAP client
447596 Euro sign/Trademark sign: processing
79991 Multi-Language and Unicode support of SAP applications
73606 Supported Languages and Code Pages
Attachments
File File Name Language Size
Type
PDF Customer_Letter_64_U.pdf E 8 KB
RAR Missing_Japanese.rar E 51 KB
TXT not_in_ISO1.txt E 1 KB
RAR Missing_trad_Chinese.rar E 6 KB
02.08.2012 Page 3 of 3

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SAP Note 838402 - Problems within non-Unicode system

Reason and Prerequisites

a) e.g. Western European (ISO-Latin-1) Installations:

b) e.g Japanase Installations:

c) e.g. Traditional Chinese Installations:

3. Integration with Unicode based technologies

a) Components written in Java

It is a strategic target of SAP to move our customer base to Unicode. End

The Note is release-independent

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