UTF-8 Character problems

The UTF-8 data sent by AJAX calls need to be encoded when sent back to the server. The encoding process in slightly different between Windows and Linux servers. The vast majority of Joomla sites are Linux so that is how ABPro is delivered.

If you are running a Windows server you will need to make the code modification shown below and also mentioned in the User's Guide.

Some Linux servers have the WINDOWS directive defined even on Linux so that effectively tells ABPro to use the wrong encoding. The code change below, specifically tells ABPro what type of box is in use.


Edit file:
(for ABPro 1.4.x) /components/com_rsappt_pro14/rsappt_pro14.php.
(for ABPro 2.0.1) /components/com_rsappt_pro2/rsappt_pro2.php

Right near the top find..
//define("WINDOWS", false);

If you are using a Windows server uncomment that line and set the 'false' to 'true'
define("WINDOWS", true);


If you are not using a Windows server it may be the WINDOWS value is mis-defined somewhere. Uncomment the line to specifically tell ABPro you are not using a Windows server.
define("WINDOWS", false);

This is only required for non-English sites using a UTF-8 character set.

#UPDATE#
ABPro now attempts to set WINDOWS
if (substr(PHP_OS, 0, 3) == 'WIN') {
define("WINDOWS", true);
} else {
define("WINDOWS", false);
}


#UPDATE#
Some environments mimic Linux under Windows so you need to set WINDOWS false even though you are on Windows.
Some environments (XAMPP) will ignore ABPro's define of WINDOWS and always set WINDOWS true. In this case the only way to get date translations to convert to UTF-8 correctly is to reverse the logic.
For example, in gad_ajax.php, wherever you see
if(WINDOWS){
You need to change that to
if(!WINDOWS)