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Manage Files with Encoding

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To facilitate the display of your code in a particular language and on a particular platform, you can associate a particular character encoding with a file.

Opening Files

You can choose the editor you want to use to edit the file.

To open a file with a specific editor

  1. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click File.

  2. In the Open File dialog box, select the file name.

  3. Click the arrow next to the Open button, and then clickOpen With from the menu that appears.

  4. In the Select a program to open list, select an editor, and then click Open. To open the file with a particular encoding, select an editor with encoding support, such as SQL Query Editor with Encoding or XML Editor with Encoding.

Saving Files

You can also save your code with a Unicode encoding or a different code page to support various languages, such as Western European or Eastern European. You can associate a particular character encoding with a file to facilitate the display of your code in that language, as well as a line-ending type to support a particular operating system. Also, some characters, when used in file names, cannot be saved unless they are saved with Unicode encoding.

To save a file with a different encoding or line ending type

  1. On the File menu, click Save <filename> As.

  2. In the Save File As dialog, expand the Save button, and then click Save with Encoding.

  3. In the Advanced Save Options dialog box, select the encoding you want from the Encoding list.

  4. From the Line Endingslist, select the type of line ending you want.

    Note

    If you save your file your file with Unicode encoding, the file should be checked into Microsoft Visual SourceSafe as a binary file because Visual SourceSafe does not support merging, comparing, and showing differences between files that are saved as Unicode.

If you are using Visual SourceSafe to store files with ANSI, UTF8, or Unicode, be aware of the following limitations for each:

  • ANSI files allow only characters that are supported in the current code page, which limits international use.

  • Unicode files cannot use shared checkout, difference checking, or merging functionality because they are handled as binary files. You can use this format in international files.

  • UTF8 files do not work safely with Visual SourceSafe because changes that cause problems for UTF8 file editors are made during check in, check out, difference checking, and merging.

See Also

Files That Manage Solutions and Projects
Associate File Extensions to a Code Editor