• This system uses a 16-bit encoding.
• This number can be read regardless of the platform, software or language used.

• for character strings
• for data files
• for controls that display data from character strings or data files.

• an option to define the string format at runtime in the project configuration description.
  To change the string format in the current configuration:
  
  1. Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project configuration" group, click "Current configuration".
  2. In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode: "Use ANSI strings at runtime" or "Use UNICODE strings at runtime".
• the UNICODE String type.
• conversion functions:
  These functions convert ANSI characters to Unicode and vice versa. Character strings are automatically converted (see paragraph below).
  

  AnsiToUnicode	Converts: an ANSI string (Windows) to a UNICODE string. a buffer containing an ANSI string (Windows) to a buffer containing a UNICODE string.
  StringToUTF8	Converts an ANSI or UNICODE string to UTF-8.
  UnicodeToAnsi	Converts: a UNICODE string to ANSI (Windows). a buffer containing a UNICODE string to a buffer containing an ANSI string (Windows).
  UTF8ToString	Converts a UTF-8 string to ANSI or UNICODE.
• functions to handle character strings:
  

  Complete	Returns a character string of a specified length.
  CompleteDir	Adds a backslash to the end of a string, if necessary.
  ExtractString	Allows you to: extract a substring from a string based on a specified string separator. search for substrings in a string based on a specified string separator.
  Left	Extracts the left part (i.e., the first characters) from a string or buffer.
  Length	Returns: the length of a string, i.e., the number of characters in the string (including spaces and binary zeros). the size of a buffer, i.e., the number of bytes in the buffer.
  Middle	Extracts: a substring from a string starting at a specified position. part of a buffer starting at a specified position.
  NoAccent	Converts accented characters in a string to non-accented characters.
  NoSpace	Returns a string after removing the spaces: from the left and right side of the initial string. within the string.
  Position	Finds the position of a specified string within another string.
  PositionOccurrence	Finds the Xth position of a string within another string.
  RepeatString	Concatenates N number of copies of the same specified string or buffer.
  Replace	Replaces all occurrences of a specified substring in a string with another specified substring.
  Reverse	Returns the character that corresponds to the difference between the ASCII code of a specific character in a string and 255.
  Right	Extracts the last characters from a string or string buffer.
  StringCompare	Compares two strings character by character: according to the sequence of ASCII characters. according to the alphabetical order.
  StringCount	Calculates: the number of occurrences of a specific character string (by respecting the search criteria) in another character string. the number of occurrences of a set of strings in an array.
  StringFormat	Formats a character string according to the selected options.
  TypeVar	Identifies the type of an expression, a variable (during a call to a procedure for example) or a control.
  Val	Returns the numeric value of a character string.
• operators to handle character strings:
  • extraction operator ([[]])
  • comparison operator (<>)
• operators to iterate over character strings:
  • FOR EACH STRING operator
  • FOR EACH POSITION operator

• functions to handle text files:
  

  fOpen	Opens an external file (ANSI or Unicode) to handle it programmatically.
  fRead	Reads a block of bytes (characters) from an external file (ANSI or UNICODE).
  fReadLine	Reads a line from an external file (ANSI or UNICODE).
  fWrite	Writes a string to an external file (ANSI or UNICODE).
  fWriteLine	Writes a line into a text file (ANSI or UNICODE).

Implicit conversions