Re: Dictionaries and modified Latin sort orders

Fabian eskrë, jolhalen ime (quoting me) »

> > I have a similar problem, because Jameld has an extra letter, a ts
> ligature,
> > which is sorted between S and T. In my database, I have one column
> with the
> > Jameld word as it should be printed, and one with a 'sort order'
> value,
> > which for most words is the same as the first column, but if an Auts
> (ts
> > ligature) is present, it is replaced with 'sz'. If I sort by that
> field, the
> > dictionary prints out in the correct Jameld order.
> >
> > Could I suggest a similar solution for Kash? If you have a separate
> column
> > for the 'sort order' value, you could copy the Kash word into it and
> then
> > replace the first letter with a 2-digit numeric value, e.g.:
>
> Maltese also suffers from a lack of proper alphabet sort-order support.
> What database program do you use? I know Shoebox has excellent support
> for odd sort orders, but Access is sadly lacking in this department
> afaik.
>
> Tech support on posible solutions is welcome.
For Tech support, you'd better ask Danny Wier :)

I use Access 2000, and I fake my own sort-order using the method outlined
above. It's the kind of issue, solvable by guile, that I enjoy in my secular
work as a database programmer. The two-digit solution I suggested for Kash,
I would imagine, could be adapted to many alphabets (indeed, I'd need to use
something like that if I ever get round to a proper Rahha wordlist/dict, as
Rahha's sort order would be entirely non-Latin), but there could be flaws
I'm not aware of as I only came up with it for my reply to Roger, and I
haven't actually tried it myself yet.

If you'd like any detailed tech support on a specific sort-order issue,
please feel free to mail me privately.

James

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james@zolid.com  James Campbell  Zeugma--Our Life Is Design  www.zolid.com

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