Cakephp Form Labels Encoding Utf8 - forms

Question

In my php application since the beginning that i set everything with utf8 to avoid future problems. I set my database:
class DATABASE_CONFIG {
public $default = array(
'datasource' => 'Database/Mysql',
'persistent' => false,
'host' => 'localhost',
'login' => 'root',
'password' => '',
'database' => 'aquitex',
'prefix' => '',
'encoding' => 'utf8',
);
public $test = array(
'datasource' => 'Database/Mysql',
'persistent' => false,
'host' => 'localhost',
'login' => 'root',
'password' => '',
'database' => 'aquitex',
'prefix' => '',
'encoding' => 'utf8',
);
}
The file core.php:
Configure::write('App.encoding', 'UTF-8');
And the default layout of the views:
<?php echo $this->Html->charset(); ?>
However, i'm still having problems in some elements like labels of forms.
In my index.ctp file, this line:
echo $this->Html->link("Segurança", array('controller' => 'Posts','action'=> 'add'), array( 'class' => 'button'));
works perfectly and there's no problem with the 'ç' character.
But in forms, like this:
echo $this->Form->create('Post');
echo $this->Form->input('Nome Produto');
echo $this->Form->input(utf8_encode("Código Produto"));
echo $this->Form->input("Versão");
echo $this->Form->input('Data');
//echo $this->Form->input('body', array('rows' => '3'));
echo $this->Form->end('Criar Ficha');
there's no way i can get the words on the labels of the form with 'ó" or 'ç' characters showing properly. As you can see i even tried the utf8encode() in one of them.
Any hints? Thank you!

Answer 1

there is no need to use utf8_encode() in your views.
you simply forgot to save the view file properly.
save it as "utf8 without bom" and you will be fine.
files that do not contain any special utf8 char can still stay as ansi (since there is no difference between them then).
but every file that does contain such a character you need to save as utf8 (even controllers and models if you plan on using utf8 characters there for error messages etc).
PS: in general it is wiser to use english and to translate it via PO file into your language.
this way you can leave the files as they are and you are more flexible (you can add new languages on the fly just by creating a new PO file then).
EDIT
After figuring out together that your inputs() use utf8 chars, I will need to update:
It is wise to use "underscore_field_names" for your db fields (and therefore your input fields) - and in English:
echo $this->Form->input("version"));
you can easily translate them via PO file afterwards or specifying the label:
echo $this->Form->input("version", array('label' => 'Versão'));
but the first way is recommended to keep it dry.

Answer 2

App.encoding just tells Cake to send data in UTF8. If you're using MySQL, make sure the database itself is set to utf8_general_ci collation.