My point was not to list out the various differences between one
country and another, but to point out that there are so many
differences that masking or using regex to force a specific format
when you know you are going to have customers from all around the
world is simply futile.  There are too many differences to handle in a
practical manner.

A few years ago, I  was trying to buy software from Hewlett-Packard -
an international company if ever there was one.  But the on-line form
required a US zipcode,  only offered two-character state
abbreviations,   and validated the state against the postcode,
required a phone number in the format (555) 555-5555, and believe it
or not even required a Social Security Number!!   And the product was
not US-specific. It was international.

I really needed the software, so i ended up phoning my brother in
Indianapolis,  asking him for his social security number. I made up
one of my own based on his.  I picked a zip code and address out of an
American magazine, and just for fun used a phone number with the area
code 555, since all phone numbers in movies have area code 555 for
some reason.

Then i used the comments box to give them the real information,
downloaded the software and paid with my credit card.

So their validation ended up getting them what?     Useless made up
information, and the address in theri database would be to some
company I just plucked out of a magazine.

If you're going to attract international business,  you need to be a
lot more flexible in your address/phone form than if you are going to
tell customers outside your own country to bugger off.

Cheers
Mike Kear
Windsor, NSW, Australia
Adobe Certified Advanced ColdFusion Developer
AFP Webworks
http://afpwebworks.com
ColdFusion, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET hosting from AUD$15/month



On 10/25/06, Paul Hastings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> instead of relying on what is essentially hearsay, go here for your info:
>
> http://www.upu.int/
>
> 

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