From: George Russell [mailto:ger@informatik.uni-bremen.de]

http://www.haskell.org//pipermail/glasgow-haskell-users/2004-April/006 564.html

Thanks George, this looks useful. There are some things I want to clarify... module UTF8( toUTF8, -- :: String -> String -- Converts a String (whose characters must all have codes <2^31) into -- its UTF8 representation. fromUTF8WE, -- :: Monad m => String -> m String -- Converts a UTF8 representation of a String back into the String, -- catching all possible format errors. Does toUTF8 return a String whose Chars are all code-points < 256, which, when converted to bytes, will represent a UTF-8 string? Likewise, does fromUTF8WE expect a String whose Chars are all code-points < 256 i.e. they are the result of saying "chr n" for each byte in the UTF-8 stream?

From: Simon Marlow [mailto:simonmar@microsoft.com]

In any case, none of this allows you to specify a UTF-8 conversion.

Are there plans to add UTF-8 (and UTF-16) conversion functions to the libraries? I imagine they would be useful...

Your best bet is to marshal it yourself. We're a bit behind in this area: 6.2.x doesn't have CAString and CWString, and CString is just char*. The HEAD has CAString and CWString, and will hopefully follow the FFI spec by the time we release 6.4 (we still have to do the locale encoding/decoding between CString and String, IIRC).

Again, I want to clarify some things... - will any encoding/decoding be performed by the peekCString/withCString/newCString(Len) functions? i.e. if I want to avoid encoding/decoding (because I know my string is already in UTF-8) then I simply have to avoid using these functions? - can I still declare the foreign functions with CString types without worrying that encoding/decoding might be attempted? - when the CAString functions are available then I should use them, but for now I will have to write something that uses castCharToCChar/castCCharToChar + peekArray0/pokeArray0. Thanks, Alistair. ----------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** Confidentiality Note: The information contained in this message, and any attachments, may contain confidential and/or privileged material. It is intended solely for the person(s) or entity to which it is addressed. Any review, retransmission, dissemination, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient(s) is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. *****************************************************************