Vera,

if you start using RTF (for Czech, Polish etc) than you are now longer depending on the codepage of a table. The codepage for tables is relevant if you are using characters within the normal character set. In our applications we have set them as follows:
PHL_DE=850 && german
PHL_DK=850 && danish
PHL_ES=ansi && spanish
PHL_FR=850 && french
PHL_GB=850 && UK-english
PHL_IT=850 && italian
PHL_NL=850 && dutch
PHL_NO=850 && norwegian
PHL_PT=850 && portugese
PHL_SE=850 && swedish
PHL_SU=850 && finnish
PHL_IN=850 && indonesian
PHL_RU=850 && russian --- we now use Timesse Cyrillic as a font but we will move to RTF within a couple of weeks
PHL_GE=850 && greek RTF
PHL_MA=850 && malaysian RTF
PHL_HU=850 && hungarian RTF
PHL_CZ=850 && czech RTF
PHL_PL=850 && polish RTF
PHL_CC=850 && complex chinese Twinbridge
PHL_CS=850 && simple chinese Twinbridge
PHL_JP=850 && japanese Twinbridge
PHL_KO=850 && korean Twinbridge

as you can see, the odd one out is the Spanish due to some characters with the tilde on top of it.
VFP is always set to codepage=1252 with a CONFIG.FPW.
Make sure that you set the codepage for VFP AND for the tables. If you forget the VFP part you will get some surprising results. VFP needs to be set in a codepage as well before all will start to work.

You could use a normal character field to store the data but I can not advize you to do this. RTF-tends to grow without you noticing.
An example: the following text just says: Hello. You can check this by typing a phrase into MS-Word and to save the file as RTF. Use a normal text-editor to open the RTF-file and this is what you get.

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\uc1 \deff0\deflang1033\deflangfe1033{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 02020603050405020304}Times New Roman;}{\f1\fswiss\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 020b0604020202020204}Arial;}
{\f16\froman\fcharset238\fprq2 Times New Roman CE;}{\f17\froman\fcharset204\fprq2 Times New Roman Cyr;}{\f19\froman\fcharset161\fprq2 Times New Roman Greek;}{\f20\froman\fcharset162\fprq2 Times New Roman Tur;}
{\f21\froman\fcharset186\fprq2 Times New Roman Baltic;}{\f22\fswiss\fcharset238\fprq2 Arial CE;}{\f23\fswiss\fcharset204\fprq2 Arial Cyr;}{\f25\fswiss\fcharset161\fprq2 Arial Greek;}{\f26\fswiss\fcharset162\fprq2 Arial Tur;}
{\f27\fswiss\fcharset186\fprq2 Arial Baltic;}}{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;
\red0\green128\blue128;\red0\green128\blue0;\red128\green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green128\blue128;\red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\widctlpar\adjustright \f1\fs20\cgrid \snext0 Normal;}{\*\cs10 \additive
Default Paragraph Font;}}{\info{\title Hello}{\author Nc1264}{\operator Nc1264}{\creatim\yr2000\mo6\dy13\hr8\min41}{\revtim\yr2000\mo6\dy13\hr8\min41}{\version1}{\edmins0}{\nofpages1}{\nofwords0}{\nofchars0}{\*\company Akzo Nobel}{\nofcharsws0}{\vern113}}
\widowctrl\ftnbj\aenddoc\formshade\viewkind1\viewscale85\pgbrdrhead\pgbrdrfoot \fet0\sectd \linex0\endnhere\sectdefaultcl {\*\pnseclvl1\pnucrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl2\pnucltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}
{\*\pnseclvl3\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl4\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl5\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl6\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}
{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl7\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl8\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl9\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain
\widctlpar\adjustright \f1\fs20\cgrid {Hello
\par }}

I guess you catch my drift...go for the memo field. An other reason. As you can see a lot of text is needed in RTF. If you start using character fields you will need to make them big (255 characters). If you have a number of these fields than you database will grow in size even if no data is present. In this situation a memo-field is far more efficient.

To display RTF data in VFP you must use the RTF-edit box. Considering the fact that VFP does not support RTF with any of its own controls I think you will have a hard time to show this type of data in anything else that a text-box. To be honest I'mo sure if the VB controls support RTF in all its glory as well.

Your problems with Russian surprise me. If you define the input locale Russian and open up Word, select RU as keyboard and type in Hello you should see Руддщ

Once again: I'm not saying it is easy but we are now in a position where we can say that we can support any language requested by our customers. In the codepage list I'm also mentioning Twinbrigde. This is an extra package that is needed in order to support these languages (www.twinbridge.com).

If you have any questions please let me know.

Regards,

Ron