Cultural-dependent design

Different countries have different standards that must be taken into account when developing an NLS-enabled application. This culturally sensitive information must be placed outside the program the same way as the textual data is handled.

Many languages have characters (such as common-usage vowels essential to the correct spelling of a word) outside of the A-Z alphabet that must be considered for collating purposes.

Through system values, the system supplies linguistic support, cultural support, and the ordering of data.

• Database file attributes
  This topic lists cultural-dependent database attributes.
• Job attributes
  This topic lists cultural-dependent job attributes.
• Program attributes
  The SRTSEQ and LANGID parameters can be specified as program attributes belonging to a *PGM object type.
• Information in message CPX8416
  If your application will be translated into other languages, use the message CPX8416 from the QCPFMSG message file to get the correct setting for some cultural values for the other languages. The message exists for your primary language and all installed secondary language libraries.
• Date formats
  There is no worldwide standard for the presentation of dates. Therefore, the date format should always be stored externally as part of the textual data.
• Date separators
  This topic lists valid date separators.
• Edit date presentation
  You need to handle the presentation of dates on display and printer files differently, depending on how they are stored.
• Time formats
  The operating system supports several time formats.
• Time separators
  The operating system allows several valid time separators.
• Edit time presentation
  You need to handle the presentation of times on display files and printer files differently, depending on the way they are stored.
• Decimal formats
  You can change the decimal format with the QDECFMT system value to reflect the way decimals are presented for your country or location.
• Sort sequences
  Sort sequence is supported by the operating system. You can order your data according to cultural-dependant requirements for specific applications by using one of the options listed in this topic.