Badly encoded characters output when querying sys.extended_properties

[giswa]

Hi guys,

I'm getting badly encoded chars specifically when I use the sys.extended_properties table.

I get german: f�r instead of für, Integrit�t for Integrität
Using this code as a test :

const sql = require('mssql');
const fs = require("node:fs");

(async () => {
    try {
        // make sure that any items are correctly URL encoded in the connection string
        await sql.connect('...')
        const result = await sql.query`SELECT top 10 * FROM sys.extended_properties`
        fs.writeFileSync('extended-properties.json', JSON.stringify(result , null, 2));
    } catch (err) {
        console.error(err);
    }
})()

On all other user tables, there are no encoding problems
My DB collation is Latin1_General_CI_AI

Any idea ?

[dhensby]

• What version of the library is this relating to?
• What debugging steps have you taken so far?
• Can you fetch the data encoded correctly via another means?
• How did you put the data in? Do you have minimal reproduction example?

[giswa]

I've tested using the simple code above. It's using mssql version 11.0.1

Changing the driver to msnodesqlv8 resolves the problem

const sql = require('mssql/msnodesqlv8');

To reproduce I'm inserting into extended_properties using the MS stored procedure :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/system-stored-procedures/sp-addextendedproperty-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver16

USE AdventureWorks2022;
GO

EXEC sys.sp_addextendedproperty @name = N'MS_Description',
    @value = N'Stadtführungen auf deutsch.',
    @level0type = 'SCHEMA', @level0name = N'Person',
    @level1type = 'TABLE', @level1name = N'Address';
GO

[dhensby]

Changing the driver to msnodesqlv8 resolves the problem

that indicates that this may be a problem in the tedious driver, then. If you use just the driver and not the mssql lib, do you have the same problem?

[giswa]

Oh… didn’t know I could do that.
Can you give me a hint on how I can try this ?

[dhensby]

Just using the underlying library directly: https://github.com/tediousjs/tedious

[giswa]

So yes, I can reproduce using the tedious library only (v18.6.1)

// using system extended_properties view
const query = 'SELECT value FROM sys.extended_properties WHERE major_id= 50099219 AND minor_id = 6' ;
// ouputs  Stadtf�hrungen auf deutsch."

// using any normal user table 
const query= 'SELECT plainText FROM Notes' ;
// ouputs "Stadtführungen auf deutsch."

Should I transfer this issue somewhere else ?

[dhensby]

Hmm - I tried transferring the issue to tedious but it didn't work. Would you mind opening a new one there and we can close this as an upstream bug.