Hi,
we realize that full Chiba support for localization of display data for
various types will need to be tied to the whole schema-support issue. In
addition, it will have to be a rich model, involving not just display
attributes, but timezone and locale.
In the shorter term, we are trying to implement a simple approach to a small
subset of this, mainly the one discussed in this email -- using 1 or 2
alternate date input formats. For simplicity's sake, we would would probably
not worry about timezone issues, and restrict ourself to a couple of Gregorian
date-only date formats that could be easily converted by XSLT. As such, we are
looking for an approach that is simple, stays away from making core Chiba
changes, and therefore will not conflict with future work in Chiba to support
full localization.
I wanted to suggest the approach we are going to try to solve the simple
date-formatting problem, and see if anyone has tried something similar or has
any feedback.
We believe the Chiba XSLT, possibly in conjunction with
org.chiba.adapter.web.WebAdapter.getExternalName() method, could do two things:
- associate a parameter name to the required date format -- either by saving
the association or encoding the association in the HTML form parameters
- convert the internal Chiba date data to the appropriate format in the HTML
The WebAdapter, upon receiving the HTTP submission parameters, before calling
control.setValue(), would recognize the parameter's associated format and
reverse the date transformation when the parameter is unpacked in the
handleData() method.
I have no doubt we can quickly make this work. I just want to make sure that
we are not overlooking some significant drawback that would preclude this
approach even to the simple short-term formatting we have in mind.
PS. The last time I did a Japanese system we had to use the Japanese Imperial
format < http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/emperor-date.html >, an example of what I
wouldn't attempt using this approach. :-)
Thanks,
Paul Miniato
joern turner & Flavio Costa wrote:
>>>> 2) We are used to type a date format other than XML Schema's one
>>>> (yyyy-mm-dd). It would be important for us if Chiba allows
>>>> us to specify
>>>> (in its configuration file) a custom format to be displayed to the
>>>> end-user, and convert it to Schema's format just for
>>>> validation and when
>>>> finally submitting instance data.
>>>sure, i think nobodys used to input dates in schema format
>>> ;) and so
>>>your requirement is a quite common one. as an open source
>>> project we're
>>>lacking financial support and so i can't make promises
>>> when we'll have
>>>addressed this issue. its planned to refactor the schema
>>> datatypes part
>>>in Chiba and we'll take your issue into account then.
>> Incidentally this date format is often used in Japan,
>> but evidently
>> Schema's time and datetime formats are more akward.
>> Unfortunatelly I
>> don't know enough of Chiba's inner workings, therefore I cannot
>> volunteer to help on it yet.
> we'll definitely think about this issue and where to
> integrate it into
> Chiba. i already have a rough idea - whenever a refresh() is
> executed
> Chiba updates its UI objects to reflect the status of the
> instance-data.
> cause the data values are copied to the controls the
> update() method of
> XFormsElement might be the right place.
> the other direction might work quite the same. - have to
> look into it ...
> but you raised a definitely very important issue that also
> touched i18n
> and localization of datatype representations
Paul Miniato
ProLender Project
604-734-2511
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