[GH-ISSUE #78] International (unicode) characters being mangled #66

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opened 2026-02-28 01:23:00 +03:00 by kerem · 10 comments
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Originally created by @mitra42 on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/ushahidi/SMSSync/issues/78

We are trying to setup smssync to run in a south american country, and as soon as we started sending spanish strings we ran into problems. It looks like SMSSync is mangling the characters.

I'll attach an image showing what happens when someone sends Español (that's an n with a ~ over it) Smsync has turned it into Espa}ol and sent that to the server.

photo-4

Originally created by @mitra42 on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/ushahidi/SMSSync/issues/78 We are trying to setup smssync to run in a south american country, and as soon as we started sending spanish strings we ran into problems. It looks like SMSSync is mangling the characters. I'll attach an image showing what happens when someone sends Español (that's an n with a ~ over it) Smsync has turned it into Espa}ol and sent that to the server. ![photo-4](https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/2242709/134442/961c6014-70d9-11e2-9355-95c7852370fa.JPG)
kerem closed this issue 2026-02-28 01:23:01 +03:00
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@eyedol commented on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013):

@mitra42. Encoding issue

<!-- gh-comment-id:13231501 --> @eyedol commented on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013): @mitra42. Encoding issue
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@mitra42 commented on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013):

Sorry eyedol - "encoding issue" means what? I know about Unicode encoding, but this looks like an encoding issue within smsync, which doesn't seem to be handling the characters transparantly?

<!-- gh-comment-id:13241653 --> @mitra42 commented on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013): Sorry eyedol - "encoding issue" means what? I know about Unicode encoding, but this looks like an encoding issue within smsync, which doesn't seem to be handling the characters transparantly?
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@eyedol commented on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013):

@mitra42. Correct. I meant, it's an encoding issue that SMSSync can't handle well. Needs fixing.

<!-- gh-comment-id:13244021 --> @eyedol commented on GitHub (Feb 7, 2013): @mitra42. Correct. I meant, it's an encoding issue that `SMSSync` can't handle well. Needs fixing.
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@eyedol commented on GitHub (Feb 12, 2013):

@mitra42 I think it's an Android issue. Which version of Android are you running?

I have Jelly Bean 4.2.1 and I didn't get that issue. See attached screenshot.

Screenshot_2013-02-12-19-56-38

<!-- gh-comment-id:13460408 --> @eyedol commented on GitHub (Feb 12, 2013): @mitra42 I think it's an Android issue. Which version of Android are you running? I have Jelly Bean 4.2.1 and I didn't get that issue. See attached screenshot. ![Screenshot_2013-02-12-19-56-38](https://f.cloud.github.com/assets/73175/150761/cc2af61c-755b-11e2-9a69-8a9ee7cafc01.png)
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@olliebennett commented on GitHub (Feb 24, 2013):

Can also confirm the symbol works fine on Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

<!-- gh-comment-id:14006387 --> @olliebennett commented on GitHub (Feb 24, 2013): Can also confirm the symbol works fine on Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
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@eyedol commented on GitHub (Mar 7, 2013):

Not a bug on SMSSync then. Closing.

<!-- gh-comment-id:14588587 --> @eyedol commented on GitHub (Mar 7, 2013): Not a bug on SMSSync then. Closing.
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@mitra42 commented on GitHub (Mar 7, 2013):

Pity you closed it - it may not technically be a SMSSync bug, but its failure to handle unicode on earlier versions of Android is pretty unique to SMSSYnc (SMS-es etc handle unicode just fine). The big problem is that it prevents the use of older, cheaper, android phones as gateways i.e. our cost of a gateway in any country just went from about $70 for a used one to $200+ for a current one that can run Android 4+. This seems pretty unique to SMSSync we haven't seen problems with unicode characters on any other application.

<!-- gh-comment-id:14591010 --> @mitra42 commented on GitHub (Mar 7, 2013): Pity you closed it - it may not technically be a SMSSync bug, but its failure to handle unicode on earlier versions of Android is pretty unique to SMSSYnc (SMS-es etc handle unicode just fine). The big problem is that it prevents the use of older, cheaper, android phones as gateways i.e. our cost of a gateway in any country just went from about $70 for a used one to $200+ for a current one that can run Android 4+. This seems pretty unique to SMSSync we haven't seen problems with unicode characters on any other application.
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@eyedol commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2013):

@mitra42 I clearly understand where you're coming from. I' have been trying to reproduce this from my end and I simply can't get it to show as you posted earlier. I'm happy to fix this if only I could know exactly what is going on. Does this only mess up on the Sent tab? Also which version of the Android OS are you running?

<!-- gh-comment-id:14596142 --> @eyedol commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2013): @mitra42 I clearly understand where you're coming from. I' have been trying to reproduce this from my end and I simply can't get it to show as you posted earlier. I'm happy to fix this if only I could know exactly what is going on. Does this only mess up on the `Sent` tab? Also which version of the Android OS are you running?
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@mitra42 commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2013):

Hi Henry, first I must apologise, the problem wasn't yours it was ours - and I bet other developers hit it as well! We were sending unicode characters back from the server, but the encoding on the JSON was set to utf-8, so smssync was mis-interpreting the unicode characters. Thanks for your attention to this.

<!-- gh-comment-id:14601204 --> @mitra42 commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2013): Hi Henry, first I must apologise, the problem wasn't yours it was ours - and I bet other developers hit it as well! We were sending unicode characters back from the server, but the encoding on the JSON was set to utf-8, so smssync was mis-interpreting the unicode characters. Thanks for your attention to this.
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@eyedol commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2013):

@mitra42 Thanks for reporting. I'll note that in the documentation so other developers don't repeat it.

<!-- gh-comment-id:14608935 --> @eyedol commented on GitHub (Mar 8, 2013): @mitra42 Thanks for reporting. I'll note that in the documentation so other developers don't repeat it.
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