Hi Chip
I guess you could try this link and see what they have to offer in terms of
codes.
http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes.htm
Bruce
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 2:15 PM
Subject: RE: another beta (0.5.0) of Remind Me Where
Thanks much again David.
This is where we really miss the GW WE wiki, because you could have taken
this message and expanded it into an "internationalizing" article, which
would have been available to every developer; and which you could easily
update as time and further ideas occurred to you (or anyone). So, GW, would
you reconsider the wiki with your new partner?
I'll go change my prompts to be country code for now, and I'll see about
finding an official list of country names and codes.
Thanks.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: David [mailto:trailerda...@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2014 12:41 AM
To: gw-scripting@gwmicro.com
Subject: Re: another beta (0.5.0) of Remind Me Where
Chip,
Just a couple of notes.
First of all, the link you provided in your mail, was not recognized as
a link by Thunderbird. Arrowing to it, and then hitting Enter, nothing
happened. Had to copy the text, and paste it into the address field of
the browser. Just wanted to mention it.
Secondly, in the Options dialog of your app. You are asking for street,
city and state, and all of that is fine enough. Then I get to the
Country field. I start to type the name of my country, but it seems only
the two first letters are accepted. Is this correct? Basically, to me it
seems you are using the country code here, which is fine with me. Yet,
if so, maybe you should let the user know, that is what your app expect
him to enter. Let me give you the following example, for illustrative
purposes.
If you are in a country like Denmark, Europe, the two-character country
code, is DK. If the user does not know that is what he is expected to
enter, he will start entering the full countryname - DENMARK. Your app -
if I get it right - will only take the first two characters, meaning D
E, in our example. Funny thing is, that the letter combination D E, is
the country code for the neighboring country - that is, Germany. OOPS.
You land in a totally different country. Smile. Could be an interesting
"quick little walk before bedtime". Smile.
Suggestion:
Either specify that the user is to enter the two-character country code,
maybe even make a combobox for him to scroll through to find the
official code. Or, let the edit field accept the full country name, as
well as the alternative two-character code, and then handle the entry
internally in your app. The best suggestion, the way I see it, based on
the fact your app is going internationally, is the combobox. The entries
here could be taken from the XML file, or other sources. Here too, let
me give you the example to illustrate why.
For many countries, there is a domestic name, and the official
International name. It is not always obvious for a user, who only knows
his domestic country name, what the international one would be. Here is
but a handful samples, showing the differences between the two names for
some countries. In the following list, I have put the international name
in the left, and the domestic (or national) name in the right.
Germany Deutschland
Denmark Danmark
Norway Norge
Sweden Sverige
Finland Suomi
---End of list---
What does this mean for your app? If you let the user enter his country
name, and he happens to enter the domestic version, the two first
characters would likely not harmonize with any valid country code. If
you let him enter the full name, and then attempt to handle the name
internally in your code, trying to match it with a two-character code -
chances are high, that your code will fail.
Hence, building with internationalizing in mind, directly from scrach,
may save you a bit of hazzle down the road - once your app will take the
final plunge and get translated into other languages. Make a combobox,
that will hold both the two-character code, and the full name of the
country, in the currently active language. So your combobox may look
like this:
DE, Germany
DK, Denmark
SW, Sweden
UK, Great Britain
US, United States
....And so forth.
All the entries, like I suggested, could be taken from an XML file, or
some other easily edittable list. When the user - in an upcoming
internationalized version - would choose another language for his
operation of your app, the entries in the combobox would still hold the
international two-character code, but now would have the full country
names translated into what is commonly known in the given language. Here
is the above sample list, in a version that actually happens by chance,
to be identical in both Norwegian and Danish:
DE, Tyskland
DK, Danmark
SW, Sverige
UK, Storbritania
US, Amerikanske stater
.... and so forth.
Notice that the two-character code, is the same, and your app can
reliably base its further activity on the chosen code. Still, in the
translated version, the user will be presented with the name he is
familiar with for every country, independingly on whether this makes an
immediate sense with the two-character code. If you do not know, that
the two-character code for Germany is DE, my guess is that most English
users would have a hard time in figuring this to be the case. If you
want to enter the two-character code for Poland, you would maybe have
thought it would do with the letters P and O? Here is a morning surprise
for you. Poland has the international country code of PL. Try guessing
that one, without knowing it. Smile.
Therefore, a combobox that gives the user a name he knows, and connects
it with the international two-character code for your app to swallow,
may be the best way to have things done. Even for the English users, who
want to explore abroad, as shown with the examples of Germany and Poland
above.
I hope all of this makes any sense. Unless you are used to multi-lingual
stuff, or have done a few trips abroad, this may likely be new to most
users - and developers alike. I therefore decided to let this rather
detailed message go public on the list. Hopefully, this will stand as a
reminder for everyone who later wants to prepare their app for
translations, or who develops apps that need to handle cross-boarder
stuff. Sorry, guys, but not even google Translator will help you with
this one. Only human knowledge, either by personal experience, or
thorough study on the net. Smile. Any further questions on the matter,
please ask. either I, or other internationalized users, wil try our best
to help you out with cases like this.
BTW, right off-hand, I am not sure if all countries are doing
two-character codes. Seem to remember there would be a few who has a
three-character international code. You may want to look that one up on
the net, since that was derived straight from a messy memory. Smile.
David
On 6/11/2014 2:18 AM, Chip Orange wrote:
>
> Hi all beta testers,
>
>
>
> Thanks again for reports, testing, and suggestions. The latest beta
is now ready at:
>
> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11745142/Remind_Me_Where.wepm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *** What's new since last beta ***
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> * Added "radar search" as a choice for search type, in the Searching
Criteria dialog. This allows you to look at places which meet your
searching criteria, by viewing the results for each of the 8 compass
cardinal directions (from your starting point) separately. e.g., you
can see all of the ATM units which are to the north of your starting
point in one listview. You can easily switch between the 8 various
directions by using hotkeys defined from the numeric keypad, which are
laid out roughly in the same pattern as the 8 directions. This should
help you get a better feel for the actual relative physical locations of
the places.
>
>
>
> * Now in the treeview of directions, when Google shows a highway name
having two or 3 possible names separated by slashes, the treeview will
only show one name (the right most, which is often the local name for
the street).
>
>
>
> * Now saves the last used setting for type of directions, and uses it
the next time directions are requested.
>
>
>
> * Now asks you if you want the documentation and the Options dialog
opened for you the first time the app is run. (this will happen once
for all of you one time).
>
>
>
> * As always many bug fixes (including one where the web site buttons
failed to work properly when you made use of the street filter on the
search results dialog for near-by searches).
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Chip
>
>
>
>
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