cleaner.php and UTF-8 characters in usernames

[Tomzl]

I imported a phpBB database which had a win-1250 charset. Logically some of the characters were not showing up correctly with the UTF-8 charset I'm using for my new vBulletin forum.

I thought I could solve this problem by using the cleaner.php to change the characters to appropriate UTF-8 values. Sure enough it worked like it should but I am still left with the issue of usernames which have those problematic characters.

Can someone please tell me what code I have to put in the cleaner.php to change the usernames as well?

[Tomzl]

Looks like I spoke too soon. I was indeed able to change some of the characters but since the cleaner.php file must be edited in Western European encoding in Dreamweaver in order to work, I was unable to change one of the characters.

The problem is that this character does not show up correctly in the Western European encoding and I suspect this is the cause why the cleaner.php script doesn't change it correctly. Is there a way around this problem?

[Jerry]

Can you convert the source database to UTF-8 before the import ?

[Tomzl]

Can you convert the source database to UTF-8 before the import ?

My server admin imported the database for me so I can ask but I'm not sure how phpBB would react to a UTF-8 database, since it does not support UTF-8. Are there any alternatives?

[Jerry]

My server admin imported the database for me so I can ask but I'm not sure how phpBB would react to a UTF-8 database, since it does not support UTF-8. Are there any alternatives?

Set the target database to win-1250 before the import.

[Tomzl]

Set the target database to win-1250 before the import.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. The phpBB database IS set to win-1250 and all the characters get imported into the vBulletin database in the correct form. When I view the vBulletin database with HeidiSQL, the characters are still in win-1250 format. The problem is that when those characters from the database are interpreted by vBulletin forum (which is UTF-8), they show up incorrectly that's why I need to convert them to UTF-8 in the database.

The problem is that Western European encoding (in my experience the only charset with which cleaner.php works) does not support the characters needed to replace those in the database. That's why the script either cannot find the correct character to replace or replaces the existing character with an incorrect value. Is it possible to make the cleaner.php work in UTF-8 format?

[Tomzl]

Can I get some help with this issue, please?

I have a UTF-8 database (UTF-8 is the only type where vBulletin will work like I want it to) but the database has some characters which must be changed to utf-8 from win-1250 in order to be displayed correctly.

[Jerry]

You'll have to convert the database before the import, cleaner can't go from win-1250 to UTF-8.