Index: lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/web/LoginRequestServlet.java
===================================================================
diff -u -r70a60f2862830ca6bd07e2b1252af3d79e4939af -r8d1f1d066f2b63b83bdd630609c527fec153675a
--- lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/web/LoginRequestServlet.java	(.../LoginRequestServlet.java)	(revision 70a60f2862830ca6bd07e2b1252af3d79e4939af)
+++ lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/web/LoginRequestServlet.java	(.../LoginRequestServlet.java)	(revision 8d1f1d066f2b63b83bdd630609c527fec153675a)
@@ -120,6 +120,16 @@
 	    response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST, "Login Failed - login parameters missing");
 	    return;
 	}
+	
+	// LDEV-2196 preserve character encoding if necessary
+    if (request.getCharacterEncoding() == null) {
+    	log.debug("request.getCharacterEncoding is empty, parsing username and courseName as 8859_1 to UTF-8...");
+    	extUsername = new String(extUsername.getBytes("8859_1"), "UTF-8");
+    	if (courseName != null) {
+    		courseName = new String(courseName.getBytes("8859_1"), "UTF-8");
+    	}
+    }
+	
 	ExtServerOrgMap serverMap = getService().getExtServerOrgMap(serverId);
 
 	try {
Index: lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/webservice/xml/LearningDesignRepositoryServlet.java
===================================================================
diff -u -r1ed58a0c7e540a027d04adadde8eb5b2a5b623fa -r8d1f1d066f2b63b83bdd630609c527fec153675a
--- lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/webservice/xml/LearningDesignRepositoryServlet.java	(.../LearningDesignRepositoryServlet.java)	(revision 1ed58a0c7e540a027d04adadde8eb5b2a5b623fa)
+++ lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/webservice/xml/LearningDesignRepositoryServlet.java	(.../LearningDesignRepositoryServlet.java)	(revision 8d1f1d066f2b63b83bdd630609c527fec153675a)
@@ -272,7 +272,6 @@
     public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
 
 	try {
-
 	    // get parameters
 	    String serverId = request.getParameter(CentralConstants.PARAM_SERVER_ID);
 	    String datetime = request.getParameter(CentralConstants.PARAM_DATE_TIME);
@@ -288,13 +287,22 @@
 	    String firstName = request.getParameter(LoginRequestDispatcher.PARAM_FIRST_NAME);
 	    String lastName = request.getParameter(LoginRequestDispatcher.PARAM_LAST_NAME);
 	    String email = request.getParameter(LoginRequestDispatcher.PARAM_EMAIL);
-
+	    
 	    if (serverId == null || datetime == null || hashValue == null || username == null || courseId == null
 		    || country == null || lang == null || modeStr == null) {
 		String msg = "Parameters missing";
 		log.error(msg);
 		response.sendError(response.SC_BAD_REQUEST, "Parameters missing");
 	    }
+	    
+	    // LDEV-2196 preserve character encoding if necessary
+	    if (request.getCharacterEncoding() == null) {
+	    	log.debug("request.getCharacterEncoding is empty, parsing username and courseName as 8859_1 to UTF-8...");
+	    	username = new String(username.getBytes("8859_1"), "UTF-8");
+	    	if (courseName != null) {
+	    		courseName = new String(courseName.getBytes("8859_1"), "UTF-8");
+	    	}
+	    }
 
 	    Integer mode = new Integer(modeStr);
 
@@ -353,6 +361,10 @@
 	}
 
     }
+    
+    public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
+    	doGet(request, response);
+    }
 
     public void exportLD(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
 	Long learningDesignId = WebUtil.readLongParam(request, PARAM_LEARING_DESIGN_ID);
Index: lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/webservice/xml/LessonManagerServlet.java
===================================================================
diff -u -r70a60f2862830ca6bd07e2b1252af3d79e4939af -r8d1f1d066f2b63b83bdd630609c527fec153675a
--- lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/webservice/xml/LessonManagerServlet.java	(.../LessonManagerServlet.java)	(revision 70a60f2862830ca6bd07e2b1252af3d79e4939af)
+++ lams_central/src/java/org/lamsfoundation/lams/webservice/xml/LessonManagerServlet.java	(.../LessonManagerServlet.java)	(revision 8d1f1d066f2b63b83bdd630609c527fec153675a)
@@ -279,12 +279,7 @@
      *                 if an error occurred
      */
     public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
-
-	// TODO services should be implemented as POST
-	response.setContentType("text/html");
-	PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
-	out.flush();
-	out.close();
+		doGet(request, response);
     }
 
     public Long startLesson(String serverId, String datetime, String hashValue, String username, long ldId,