I use latest version of hibernate/mysql/tomcat/mysql connector and try to put some unicode characters to/from database through jsp pages.

I have configured hibernate to establish connection to database (without datasource, ie all connection parameters are defined in hibernate configuration file) and was able to successfully save/read unicode characters to/from database (even though it took me a very long time to put all bits in proper places).

But then I decided to use datasource (as advised :-) and moved connection settings to datasource definition in tomcat. Hibernate uses datasource configuration now. However, the interesting bit is that I can still read unicode characters from database but when I try to insert new entries they are not properly translated into unicode.

Yes, I did lots of testing and marking around and I have even put original database connection settings back to hibernate properties file. As soon as I start using datasource - saving unicode chacaters to database does not work.

any ideas?