Object Oriented National Language Support for Country Dependent Functions

Object Oriented National Language Support for Country Dependent Functions

       Disclosed is a program containing methods which can
provide a data processing system with country-dependent selectable
formats for National Language Support string objects representing
real numbers, integers, date objects, time objects and currencies for
concurrent multi-lingual, multi-national, multi-platform use by a
plurality of users. The disclosed program provides a programming
interface that allows the development of a data processing system by
programmers having little or no knowledge of the actual languages,
nations, or computer platforms from which the processed string data
representing these dependent functions will be sent, or in which a
data processing system will execute.

      A processing system that is supported by National Language
string functions and has the requirements identified below can
utilize the National Language country-dependent object-oriented
functions.

      Selectivity on the following functions is provided for each
supported country.  Note that the objects that are selectable in a
user- or application-chosen format are intended only for presentation
and entry forms.  Internal forms and persistent forms such as the
database will remain in an internal representation suitable for
internal processing.
  - numerical representation of real numbers and integers. Various
international users and multiple-platform-independent applications
can represent real numbers or integers in different context, such as
different separator characters as well as different decimal points.
As these dependent functions run in parallel with National Language
Support character data representation, the digits that make up the
real or integer values can themselves be represented in various
graphic code page environments.
 -  representation of date objects.  As well as numerical objects,
date objects represent the same National Language characteristics.
The date format for any country is simply chosen by the user,
operator, or application and all underlying mechanisms to handle
formatting, conversion, and other National Lan...