Introduction
The International Utilities package and the international resources have been
changed with System file 4.1 to take advantage of the Script Manager.
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INTL vs. itl
In the past, there were two INTL resources in the System file, INTL 0 and INTL
1, which contained international formatting options. Starting with System 4.1,
itl0 and itl1 replace INTL 0 and INTL 1. (INTL 0 and INTL 1 are still included
with the System file so that applications that do a GetResource for them will
still find them. Only these erroneous applications that use GetResource will
access these resources now; the System will no longer look at them.) There can
now be a set of international resources (itls) for each script that is
installed. That is, where once there was one resource type (INTL) with IDs 0
and 1 there are now many different resource types (itl0, itl1, itl2, itlb,
itlc, KCHR) with distinct resource IDs for the various countries. The U.S.
System file uses resource ID 0 for all itl resources.
If your existing application calls IUGetIntl to get the appropriate
international resource, you will have no problems under System 4.1. If,
however, you call GetResource on INTL 0 or INTL 1 and then modify them, and
expect that the System will use the modified resource, you will no longer work
correctly. If your application has been released in the past with a modified
System file to include your own INTL 0 and/or INTL 1, you may want to release
your application with a modified itl0 and/or itl1.
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The International Sorting Routine
The international sorting routine is used to handle cases where letters are
equal in primary ordering but different in secondary ordering (e.g., "ä"
and "a"). The routine can also handle cases where one character sorts as if it
were two, or two characters would sort as if they were one, or even character
reversals.
Prior to System 4.1, the international sorting routine was stored starting with
the localRtn field of INTL 1. As of System 4.1, this routine is now stored in
itl2. An INTL 2 resource is also included with the international resources,
just for consistency (the System never uses it). It is exactly the same as
itl2.
Writing your own sorting routine can be dangerous if it is not done correctly.
Before attempting to do this, we would highly recommend you check with Apple to
determine if we are already doing one for the language of interest. We plan to
do many international versions of System file 4.1, and most developers' needs
will be met by these. A new policy at Apple will now make it possible to
license foreign versions of the System file from Software Licensing. Contact
Software Licensing at (408) 973-4667 for more information about this.
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Error in APDA draft of Inside Macintosh Volume V
There is an error in the APDA draft of the International Utilities Package
chapter of Inside Macintosh Volume V. It says that there is a flag in
the Script Manager globals that overrides the current font and always uses the
INTL 0 and INTL 1 resources. This is not true. INTL 0 and 1 have been replaced
by itl0 and itl1, and are not used except by applications that explicitly get
them by doing a GetResource. There is a relevant Script Manager flag called
IntlForce that is correctly but incompletely explained in the Script Manager
chapter. When IntlForce is false, the resources used by the International
Utilities are determined by the current script. The script that is in use is
determined by which font is in use for the port in use. For example, if you
switch to the Kyoto font, then you will be using the Japanese Script Interface
System (KanjiTalk). If you do this with IntlForce set to false, then you will
use the resources that are associated with the Japanese Script Interface
System.
When IntlForce is true, the International Utilities always use the resources
that are associated with the system script; this is usually Roman. IntlForce is
true by default. Actually, the Script Manager initialization routine reads the
itlc resource to determine what the default is, and Apple plans to release the
various international System files with this field set to true in the itlc
resource. Applications that want to change the value of IntlForce can use the
Script Manager call SetEnvirons with the smIntlForce verb. There is a Script
Manager call, IntlScript, to find out the current value.
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Bug in System 4.1 version of itl1
There is a bug in the itl1 resource in System 4.1. The itl1 resource contains
arrays of day and month names, as did the INTL 1 resource. Their formats are:
days ARRAY [1..7] of STRING[15]
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Every day and month is supposed to be coded as a Pascal string with a maximum
of 15 characters, and the actual length in the first byte of the string. In
System 4.0 and System 4.1, the contents of each string is always a Pascal
string of length 15, with the unused characters set to nulls. In other words,
the length byte is set to hex 0F. This will be fixed in a future release of the
System file. If it is currently causing your application problems, you can
change the lengths with ResEdit, or change them at run time, or use your own
itl1 resource and release your application with an installer script. The
recommended approach is to wait for a fixed version of the System file from
Apple.
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References
The International Utilities
The Script Manager
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Downloadables
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Acrobat version of this Note (56K).
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