How do I read a UTF8 encoded INI file?
delphi, delphi-2010, utf-8
Solution
The `TIniFile` class is a wrapper of the Windows API for INI files. This does support Unicode INI files, but only if those files are encoded as UTF-16. Michael Kaplan has more details here: Unicode INI function; Unicode INI file?
So, you are out of luck with `TIniFile`. Instead you could use `TMemIniFile` which allows you to specify an encoding in its constructor. The `TMemIniFile` class is a native Delphi implementation of INI file support. There are various pros and cons between the two classes. In your situation, only `TMemIniFile` can serve your needs, so it's looking like its pros are going to outweigh its cons.
Problem
I have an INI file in UTF-8 format. I am using Delphi 2010 to read the INI file and populate a TStringGrid with the values in the INI file. ``` var ctr : Integer; AppIni : TIniFile; begin AppIni := TIniFile.Create(ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName) + 'test.ini'); for ctr := 1 to StringGrid1.RowCount do begin StringGrid1.Cells[0,ctr] := AppIni.ReadString('Column1','Row'+IntToStr(ctr),''); StringGrid1.Cells[1,ctr] := AppIni.ReadString('Column2','Row'+IntToStr(ctr),''); end; AppIni.Free; ``` The problem is that the unicode characters are appearing in the TStringGrid displaying 2 characters, rather than the 1 unicode character. How do I resolve this?