unicode character displays ok on Windows, not on Linux

[schnitzel]

Here is what I've tried, still no luck:

QSettings *cfg = new QSettings(fn,QSettings::IniFormat);
        cfg->setIniCodec("UTF-8");
...
QString tmp = QString::fromUtf8(myset->value("units","").toByteArray().constData());

QSettings *cfg = new QSettings(fn,QSettings::IniFormat);
        cfg->setIniCodec("UTF-8");
...
QString tmp = QString::fromUtf8(myset->value("units","").toByteArray().constData());

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[wysota]

Shouldn't it be:

QString tmp = myset->value("units", "").toString();

QString tmp = myset->value("units", "").toString();

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?

[schnitzel]

Shouldn't it be:

QString tmp = myset->value("units", "").toString();

QString tmp = myset->value("units", "").toString();

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?

that's what I had initially and I just tried it again, still no luck. It is as if the setIniCodec("UTF-8") does nothing.

[ChrisW67]

To make sure I have the situation correct...
You have a UTF-8 encoded INI file that is being read by QSettings. When you retrieve the value of a key and try to interpret it as a QString you get the unexpected result from your first post.

This test program functions correctly if the codec is set before any access to the settings. If I access a setting, even a completely unrelated one, before setting the codec then the file is read and cached as Latin1 text.

#include <QtGui>
#include <QDebug>
 
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QApplication app(argc, argv);
 
    QSettings settings("test.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
// uncomment the following line to break it
//    qDebug() << settings.value("missing").toString();
    settings.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
    qDebug() << settings.value("test").toString();
 
    return app.exec();
}

#include <QtGui>
#include <QDebug>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    QApplication app(argc, argv);

    QSettings settings("test.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
// uncomment the following line to break it
//    qDebug() << settings.value("missing").toString();
    settings.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
    qDebug() << settings.value("test").toString();

    return app.exec();
}

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with

$ cat test.ini
test=°
$ od -tc -tx1 test.ini
0000000   t   e   s   t   = 302 260  \n
         74  65  73  74  3d  c2  b0  0a

$ cat test.ini
test=°
$ od -tc -tx1 test.ini
0000000   t   e   s   t   = 302 260  \n
         74  65  73  74  3d  c2  b0  0a

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outputs

"°"

"°"

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[schnitzel]

@ChrisW67: The test program worked fine

And then it dawned on me. QSettings is only half of it. I am also reading the ini file contents into a QTextEdit and hence I needed to set the codec there as well even though I'm not displaying the editor right away.
Everything is working now.