diff -u -r adodb-new-tmp/adodb-datadict.inc.php adodb/adodb-datadict.inc.php
--- adodb-new-tmp/adodb-datadict.inc.php	2006-06-07 23:20:16.000000000 -0700
+++ adodb/adodb-datadict.inc.php	2006-07-25 12:29:59.000000000 -0700
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@
 	var $invalidResizeTypes4 = array('CLOB','BLOB','TEXT','DATE','TIME'); // for changetablesql
 	var $blobSize = 100; 	/// any varchar/char field this size or greater is treated as a blob
 							/// in other words, we use a text area for editting.
+	var $charSet; // Added 2004-06-20 by Kevin Jamieson (http://pkp.sfu.ca/)
 	
 	function GetCommentSQL($table,$col)
 	{
@@ -392,6 +393,8 @@
 			list($lines,$pkey) = $this->_GenFields($flds);
 			list(,$first) = each($lines);
 			list(,$column_def) = split("[\t ]+",$first,2);
+		} else {
+			$column_def = '';
 		}
 		return array(sprintf($this->renameColumn,$tabname,$this->NameQuote($oldcolumn),$this->NameQuote($newcolumn),$column_def));
 	}
@@ -730,6 +733,9 @@
 			return $this->CreateTableSQL($tablename, $flds, $tableoptions);
 		}
 		
+		$tableflds = $flds;
+		
+/* #2343: Null / Not Null column flag changes not respected by this code.
 		if (is_array($flds)) {
 		// Cycle through the update fields, comparing
 		// existing fields to fields to update.
@@ -756,29 +762,65 @@
 				}		
 			}
 			$flds = $holdflds;
-		}
+		} */
 	
-
 		// already exists, alter table instead
 		list($lines,$pkey) = $this->_GenFields($flds);
-		$alter = 'ALTER TABLE ' . $this->TableName($tablename);
 		$sql = array();
+		$addSql = array();
+		$recreate = false;
 
+		// FIXME 2005-08-01 KJ - Warning, horrible kludge ahead for DBMSs that can't alter column types
 		foreach ( $lines as $id => $v ) {
 			if ( isset($cols[$id]) && is_object($cols[$id]) ) {
 			
 				$flds = Lens_ParseArgs($v,',');
 				
 				//  We are trying to change the size of the field, if not allowed, simply ignore the request.
-				if ($flds && in_array(strtoupper(substr($flds[0][1],0,4)),$this->invalidResizeTypes4)) continue;	 
+
+/* #2343: Null / Not Null column flag changes not respected by this code.
+				if ($flds && in_array(strtoupper(substr($flds[0][1],0,4)),$this->invalidResizeTypes4)) continue;
+*/
 	 		
-				$sql[] = $alter . $this->alterCol . ' ' . $v;
+	 			$alter = $this->AlterColumnSQL($tablename, array($id => $tableflds[$id]));
+	 			if (empty($alter)) {
+	 				$recreate = true;
+	 			} else {
+	 				$sql[] = $alter;
+	 			}
 			} else {
-				$sql[] = $alter . $this->addCol . ' ' . $v;
+				$add = $this->AddColumnSQL($tablename, array($id => $tableflds[$id]));;
+				unset($tableflds[$id]);
+				$sql[] = $add;
+				$addSql[] = $add;
 			}
 		}
 		
+		if ($recreate) {
+			$sql = $this->AlterColumnSQL($tablename, false, $tableflds, $tableoptions);
+			$sql[] = $addSql;
+		}
+		
 		return $sql;
 	}
+	
+	// Functions for managing the database character encoding
+	// (for CREATE DATABASE, CREATE TABLE, etc.)
+	// Added 2004-06-20 by Kevin Jamieson (http://pkp.sfu.ca/)
+	function GetCharSet()
+	{
+		if (!$this->charSet) {
+			return false;
+		} else {
+			return $this->charSet;
+		}
+	}
+	
+	// SetCharSet - switch the client encoding
+	function SetCharSet($charset_name)
+	{
+		$this->charSet = $charset_name;
+	}
+
 } // class