Global Deployment Guide > Supported Character Sets and Collation > Collation of the Local and Sample Database >

Collation Sequences and Sorting Orders

In your Siebel eBusiness Applications, the collation sequence that affects how records are sorted in the Siebel Mobile Web Client is determined by the collation sequence on the local database's character set.

A collation sequence is not the same as a sorting order. Collation sequences include more functionality and have a greater impact than sorting orders. A collation sequence can also affect the unicity key values, because they affect string comparisons. This also has a bearing on required SQL syntax and could result in broken functionality if the right definitions are not provided.

The collation sequence for local databases is set during the localization process for your Siebel eBusiness Applications. For example, the Authenticated Edition of Sybase SQL Anywhere allows developers to create their own custom collation sequence. For more information about the character sets that Sybase SQL Anywhere supports, see the Sybase SQL Anywhere documentation.

The collation sequence defines more than just the sort order of that character set, it also defines the association between individual characters, such as case comparisons and accented characters. As multiple characters can be associated with each sort position, it is possible to treat an accented character the same as a character without an accent.

It is important to understand the implications of this association. For example, if the characters A and Å are associated by the collation sequence in Sybase SQL Anywhere, when the user does a search for all occurrences of the word AIR, not only would entries of AIR be returned, but also entries of ÅIR.


 Global Deployment Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003