# Is Unicode Available - Can't remember command

**URL:** <https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382>\
**Category:** Other\
**Created:** [24 April 2020 02:23 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382 "2020-04-24T02:23:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![eugenedakin](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/eugenedakin/32/3892_2.png) [@eugenedakin](https://ifnotnil.com/u/eugenedakin)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 02:23 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/1 "2020-04-24T02:23:12Z")

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Hi everyone,

There is a command that I used that determined if unicode was available in a Windows OS with Xojo. I can’t remember the command. Does anyone remember it?

LOL, its days like this I am feeling old… 🙂  
Eugene

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**Author:** ![charonn0](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/charonn0/32/223_2.png) [@charonn0](https://ifnotnil.com/u/charonn0)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 02:33 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/2 "2020-04-24T02:33:29Z")

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Basically just use System.IsFunctionAvailable on a “W” version of a windows declare.

But it’s not actually necessary. Every version of Windows released in the last 20+ years (and all versions supported by Xojo) are Unicode aware.

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**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 02:36 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/3 "2020-04-24T02:36:36Z")

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I think you have to go back to Windows 95 or so to find a version of Windows that optionally had unicode support

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eugenedakin](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/eugenedakin/32/3892_2.png) [@eugenedakin](https://ifnotnil.com/u/eugenedakin)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 02:41 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/4 "2020-04-24T02:41:42Z")

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Thanks Drew and Norm,

I agree that Unicode is _THE_ way to go, and old legacy systems had only ANSI support. LOL, I thought there was some command that I used in If-else statements that detected ANSI vs Unicode.

I’ll go back to using a legacy printer function to detect Unicode.

Thanks for the quick responses!

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**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 02:44 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/5 "2020-04-24T02:44:08Z")

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You mean in Xojo code ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eugenedakin](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/eugenedakin/32/3892_2.png) [@eugenedakin](https://ifnotnil.com/u/eugenedakin)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 02:45 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/6 "2020-04-24T02:45:20Z")

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Yes, there was a command in Xojo that I used to detect Unicode.

Oops, I should have mentioned Xojo.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/user_avatar/ifnotnil.com/npalardy/32/10_2.png) [@npalardy](https://ifnotnil.com/u/npalardy)\
**Post date:** [24 April 2020 03:08 UTC](https://ifnotnil.com/t/is-unicode-available-cant-remember-command/382/7 "2020-04-24T03:08:28Z")

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Only thing I ever knew of was to call IsFunctionAvailable on an Unicode function name that exists in every version of Windows and check the result  
Something like

```auto
dim isUnicodeSavvy as boolean
isUnicodeSavvy = System.IsFunctionAvailable( "SendMessageW", "User32" )

```

SendMessage should exist on every version of windows back to the beginning of time