Article View: comp.windows.x
Article #36843Language dependent application defaults
From: Thomas Oeser
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1990 16:22
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1990 16:22
46 lines
2161 bytes
2161 bytes
Hi there, looking at the documentation of X11R4 I found some surprising lines talking about application defaults depending on the current setting of $LANG. I want to start (again ?) a discussion about Language dependent application defaults. Here some reasons, why I believe we should avoid (or event don't offer) this functionality: 1) For the case that only button labels or other text strings differ, this should be done within the program using catgets() and explicitely setting the appropriate resource of the corresponding widget; 2) Other language dependent stuff (e.g., number of entries, other values, etc.) can also be set in message files using catgets() and e.g. sscanf(); 3) more ? The general issue should be to minimze the number of (language dependent) files that are necessary to run an application (simplifies maintenance of resulting products!). NOTE - In the case of catgets() it is already possible to run without any additional files, when the fallback strings in catgets() are properly set. We should try to create X applications (using Athena, Motif or other widget sets) that are able to startup even when no application defaults are provided. Thomas Oeser ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ARPA: kap121@ztivax.siemens.com UUCP: kap121@ztivax.uucp (may work only in Europe...) Postal mail: Siemens AG, DI AP 313, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, P.O. Box 830951, D-8000 Munich 83, West Germany Phone: + 49 (89) 636-47537 FAX: + 49 (89) 636-41477 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own, and should not be attributed to anyone else living or dead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!unido!ztivax!kap121 From: kap121@ztivax.UUCP (Thomas Oeser) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Language dependent application defaults Keywords: Nationalization, Application Defaults Message-ID: <898@ztivax.UUCP> Date: 14 Feb 90 16:22:28 GMT Organization: Siemens AG in Munich, W-Germany Lines: 46