(SQL Server) Convert a File's Character Encoding from UTF-8 to UFT-8-BOM

To add a utf-8 BOM to a file is just a matter of prepending these 3 bytes to the file: 0xEF 0xBB 0xBF.

This may be difficult in some programming languages, or it may be trivial in either. Therefore, the Chilkat solution you see here might be helpful, or in a language such as C++, the Chilkat solution isn't really necessary because it's easy to do yourself.

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

-- Important: See this note about string length limitations for strings returned by sp_OAMethod calls.
--
CREATE PROCEDURE ChilkatSample
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @hr int
    -- Important: Do not use nvarchar(max).  See the warning about using nvarchar(max).
    DECLARE @sTmp0 nvarchar(4000)
    -- This example assumes the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
    -- See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

    DECLARE @charset int
    -- Use "Chilkat_9_5_0.Charset" for versions of Chilkat < 10.0.0
    EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.Charset', @charset OUT
    IF @hr <> 0
    BEGIN
        PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
        RETURN
    END

    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @charset, 'FromCharset', 'utf-8'
    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @charset, 'ToCharset', 'bom-utf-8'

    DECLARE @success int
    EXEC sp_OAMethod @charset, 'ConvertFile', @success OUT, 'qa_data/txt/helloWorld.txt', 'qa_output/helloWorldBom.txt'
    IF @success <> 1
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @charset, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
        EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @charset
        RETURN
      END


    PRINT 'Success.'

    EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @charset


END
GO