Issue when CASTING a field as ASCII

[Sébastien Arnaud]

Hi,

I wrote a function that converts ASCII encoded UTF8 strings into XML ascii decimal entities, but I am having troubles when trying to use it on a DB field.

Here is how it works:

SELECT fn_utf2lat2xml_v2(_ascii'Отрицательный отзыв ');

RETURNS:

#1054;трицательный отзыв

Now, I am trying to use it in a simple query:

SELECT @test := 'Отрицательный отзыв ';

SELECT odata.fn_utf2lat2xml_v2(CAST(@test AS CHAR CHARACTER SET ascii) COLLATE ascii_general_ci);

But it returns then:
?????????????????????????? ??????????

If I add '_ascii' initially though it works:
SELECT @test := _ascii'Отрицательный отзыв ';
SELECT odata.fn_utf2lat2xml_v2(CAST(@test AS CHAR CHARACTER SET ascii) COLLATE ascii_general_ci);

Returns:
Отрицательный отзыв

So my question is the following: Is there a way to convert a local variable, string or field to perform the equivalent of _ascii'mystring' ? I tried CAST, CONVERT with no luck.

FYI, the function I wrote expects a ASCII encoded string, but somehow right now I am failing to provide this properly without the use of _ascii.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Sébastien