On 07/11/06, replies-lists-php@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <replies-lists-php@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
you really need to deal with this issue at the database design/data entry level. doing things on the sort to exclude (otherwise undefined) initial articles (as some have suggested) is very maintenance heavy as you have to update the sort portion for every language your data are entered in. additionally, an initial word that's an initial article in one language may not be in another. at the database design/data entry level the common approaches include: - a separate field for initial articles - separate sort and print fields - an initial article offset indicator that is used for sorting the first of these is probably the easiest and most portable. the last is easy, but probably the least portable. i consider the separate print/sort fields to be the least desirable since it's a lot of redundant data that has to be managed and maintained. in my experience, if you encounter a setup that doesn't support the proper handling of initial articles it's best to fix things at the database/data entry level as soon as possible -- otherwise the resolution just gets more "expensive" (however you define that).
Although I wouldn't have known to define it as such, I also don't like the idea of redundant data littering the DB. But it does seems to be the easiest method to implement as far as coding, and the fastest way to retrieve the data. Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com/what_is/xml.html http://essentialinux.com/ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
