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String Encoding for Button Variables 

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String Encoding for Button Variables

All of the button elements that can use variables also have an encoding attribute. This is an optional attribute that takes a string value. If no value is specified, the default is utf-8. For example,

   <searches>

      <url href = “https://mysiteabc.co.jp/search.gw?search={query}”

      encoding="shift_jis" />

   </searches>

Encoding is especially important when working with search engines. The search string must use the encoding that the search engine expects. Toolbar manages the conversion process, which involves a component of Microsoft Windows named MLang. The MLang library converts the URL from utf-8 to the desired encoding.

The list of supported encodings depends on the following aspects of the user’s computer:

·         The version of Windows

·         The version of Internet Explorer

·         The presence (or absence) of extended language support

Custom buttons support the following values for the encoding attribute:

·         big5

·         cp866

·         csISO2022JP

·         euc-jp

·         euc-kr

·         gb2312

·         hz-gb-2312

·         ibm852

·         iso-2022-jp

·         iso-2022-jp

·         iso-2022-kr

·         iso-8859-1

·         iso-8859-2

·         iso-8859-4

·         iso-8859-5

·         iso-8859-7

·         iso-8859-9

·         koi8-r

·         koi8-ru

·         ks_c_5601-1987

·         shift_jis

·         unicode

·         unicodeFFFE

·         utf-7

·         utf-8

·         windows-1250

·         windows-1251

·         windows-1253

·         windows-1255

·         windows-1256

·         windows-1257

·         windows-1258

·         windows-874

To see more encoding types that MLang supports, see https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.text.encoding.windowscodepage.aspx.

If the URL of a shortcut or search operation requires an encoding type that is not available on the user’s computer, the button stops the shortcut or search operation.

See Also

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