how do I convert special characters for storage in database
<p>I have a textarea, and sometimes people use special characters like</p>

<pre><code>à
</code></pre>

<p>These are stored in a database, but wrong, the value in the database is this:</p>

<pre><code>Ã
</code></pre>

<p>or something like that. What do I have to do to preserve the character?</p>
