Downloading non unicode file(name)s from website

Question

After uploading an image file (with Greek filename) on my website the image was converted to ÁÕ1.gif (Chinese to me)

I am using this one to download the file from my winForms application

Dim test as string = "ΓΕΡ"
My.Computer.Network.DownloadFile("http://www.example.com/Images/" & test & ".gif", Application.StartupPath & ImageDir & fileName)

Now how can i download the file, since the filename has changed on the server side?

Answer 1

Filename has probably not changed, what has changed is the appearance of the name, the way you see it.

I can be because of the encoding (unappropiate encoding should I say) of the page you are using to view the name.

Or because the way you encode the string that you pass to the server, and the way the server interprets the bytes you sent.

Read this excellent article http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html and you'll find out what has happened.

Joel on Software - Wednesday, October 08, 2003

The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html

by Joel Spolsky