To fully use the internationalization features supported by Sybase, the Sybase datatypes nchar and nvarchar are bound to the C++ datatype RWDBMBString, and the Sybase datatypes unichar and univarchar are bound to the C++ datatype RWBasicUString.

While sending data to the server, the Sybase Open Client Client-Library internationalizes the contents of the datatypes nchar and nvarchar to convert them to the server encoding, and localizes them while receiving from the server to the client’s encoding. Hence, the contents of the nchar and nvarchar datatypes are dependent on the localization settings.

On the other hand, unichar and univarchar datatypes always store UTF-16 encoded data. For this reason, their contents are never internationalized or localized. This data is never converted by the Client-Library while sending or receiving from the server. While binding to the unichar or univarchar datatypes, data must be bound as UTF-16 encoded data; therefore, these server datatypes are bound to the C++ datatype RWBasicUString. RWBasicUString is a datatype in the Essential Tools Module designed to encapsulate UTF-16 encoded data. The unichar and univarchar datatypes can also be bound to the C++ datatype RWUString provided in the Internationalization Module.

Please see Datatypes for more information on data binding.