Problems with certain characters in jQuery/PHP - php

Question

I am having problems with some characters after I added some jQuery to my code.
http://www.blueskycouncil.com/login-form.php (login: stack/this)
It worked fine when I was just doing it all in php but now it converts some of the characters weirdly.
This is the jQuery code I am using:
<script type="text/javascript">
// Check to see if document is ready
$(document).ready(function () {
// Set sort mode to Best
$.post("_db_index.php",
{sort_id: "best"},
// Take data from _db_index.php and put it into the HTML
function(output){
$('#left').html(output).show();
});
});
// Check to see whether user have voted on item before
function updateKarma(element, id, sortId){
$.post("idea_karma.php",
{pagetype: "index", karmatype: "ideaspace", id: id, sort_id: sortId},
function(output){
element.parentNode.className="karma-btn_voted";
element.parentNode.innerHTML="<span class=\"voted\">"+output+"</span>";
});
return false;
}
function viewMode(sortId){
$.post("_db_index.php",
{sort_id: sortId},
function(output){
$('#left').html(output).show();
$.post("subnavigation.php",
{sort_id: sortId},
function(output){
$('#base').html(output).show();
});
});
};
$(function(){
$(".base a").hover(function(){
$(this).children("span").fadeOut();
}, function(){
$(this).children("span").fadeIn();
})
});
and in the _db_index.php file it fetch it like this
<?php
// Start session
require_once('auth.php');
require_once('config.php');
require_once('db_open_select.php');
// Functions
include('trunctate_text.php');
$sort_id = $_POST['sort_id'];
$member_id = $_SESSION['SESS_MEMBER_ID'];
// Check for PHP Insert Hack
if(array_key_exists("sort_id",$_POST)){
$sort_allowed = array("best","new","comments");
if(in_array($_POST["sort_id"],$sort_allowed)){
$sort_id = $_POST["sort_id"];
}
}
echo "<div id=\"gradient\">";
//If User selected Best Rated or if url is empty:
if (empty($_POST) OR $sort_id == "best") {
//Perform database query
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * , (SELECT COUNT( 1 ) FROM comments C WHERE C.idea_id = I.id) AS COMMENTS, ( SELECT login FROM members M WHERE I.member_id = M.member_id ) as login FROM ideaspace I ORDER BY KARMA DESC", $connection);
$query = mysql_query("SELECT idea_id FROM vote_idea WHERE member_id = $member_id", $connection);
//Create array with which ideas the current user has voted on already
$user_voted_on_this = array();
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))
{
$user_voted_on_this[] = $row["idea_id"];
}
//If User selected newest:
} elseif ($sort_id == "new") {
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * , (SELECT COUNT( 1 ) FROM comments C WHERE C.idea_id = I.id) AS COMMENTS, ( SELECT login FROM members M WHERE I.member_id = M.member_id ) as login FROM ideaspace I ORDER BY DATE DESC", $connection);
$query = mysql_query("SELECT idea_id FROM vote_idea WHERE member_id = $member_id", $connection);
//Create array with which ideas the current user has voted on already
$user_voted_on_this = array();
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))
{
$user_voted_on_this[] = $row["idea_id"];
}
//If User selected most commented:
} else {
if ($sort_id == "comments")
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * , (SELECT COUNT( 1 ) FROM comments C WHERE C.idea_id = I.id) AS COMMENTS, ( SELECT login FROM members M WHERE I.member_id = M.member_id ) as login FROM ideaspace I ORDER BY COMMENTS DESC", $connection);
$query = mysql_query("SELECT idea_id FROM vote_idea WHERE member_id = $member_id", $connection);
$user_voted_on_this = array();
while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))
{
$user_voted_on_this[] = $row["idea_id"];
}
}
if (!$result && !$query) {
die("Database connection failed: " . mysql_error());
}
// 4. Use data from database
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
echo
"<dt id=\"idea\">";
if (in_array($row['id'],$user_voted_on_this)) {
echo
"<div class=\"karma-btn_voted\">
<span class=\"voted\">{$row['karma']}</span>
</div>";
} else {
echo
"<div class=\"karma-btn\">
<img src=\"images/btn_lrg_karma.png\" alt=\"Alternative text\"><span class=\"voted\"><div class=\"newkarma\">{$row['karma']}</div></span>
</div>";
}
echo
"<div class=\"textbox\">
<P class=\"category\">" . $row['category'] . "</p>
<P class=\"headline\"> " . $row['d_header']."</P>
<P>" . $shortdesc = myTruncate($row['d_description'], 220, " ") . "</p>" .
"<P class=\"name\">Submitted by " . $row['login'] . " " . date('D d Y', strtotime($row['date'])) . "<img src=\"images/comments.png\" align=\"center\">". $row['COMMENTS'] ."</p>" .
"</div>
</dt></div>";
}
?>
<?Php
require_once('db_close.php');
?>
As I said it worked fine when it was PHP but now that i fetch the data it replaces some characters with diamond ? character icon.

Answer 1

is an encoding issue, lots of things to check - UTF-8 problem when saving to mysql

Answer 2

The response is encoded in cp1252, but your page in UTF8
The char that disappears has decimal-code 146
’
You should change the encoding before you send the response(or better before you insert the data to the db).
mb_convert_encoding($str, "UTF-8", "CP1252");

Answer 3

Thanks everyone I fixed it
mysql_query("SET NAMES utf8"); in the db_connection file.