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Twenty-first International Unicode Conference
Presentations
DownloadDeveloping Globalized Applications for Windows XP using Unicode–based APIs
Lowering Cost Via More Efficient Software Localizability
Unicode and Windows XP
Sorting It All Out: An introduction to Collation
Building International Applications with Visual Studio .NET
ISO 10646/Unicode – Continued Convergence
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The 21st. International Unicode Conference was held on May 14–17, 2002 in Dublin, Ireland. The following presentations were given by Microsoft representatives:
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Developing Globalized Applications for Windows XP using Unicode–based APIs
This half–day tutorial will help the attendee understand the new features available in Windows XP that allow them to develop Unicode–based multilingual applications and web solutions for a worldwide market.
The first part of the tutorial will cover the business case, technical issues and potential pitfalls of a multilingual application.
The second part of the tutorial will show how the tools, APIs and features within Windows XP help the developer effectively address the issues described in part one. Some of the issues discussed will be:
| • | The formatting of messages, dates, time, numbers and currency. |
| • | The handling of East Asian languages by the use of IMEs Input Method Editors). |
| • | The display of complex scripts (Arabic, Hebrew, Thai) through the use of Uniscribe. |
| • | The input and display of right–to–left (RTL) languages. |
| • | Good practice methods for globalizing software. |
In conclusion, we will show that through the use of Windows XP Unicode–based tools, APIs and features the difficulty and cost of creating multilingual applications has been dramatically reduced.
Developing Globalized
Applications for Windows XP using Unicode–based APIs
(4.1MB PowerPoint presentation)
Houman Pournasseh, Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.
| • | Also available in PDF (1.2MB) |
Lowering Cost Via More Efficient Software Localizability
This 40 minute technical presentation will show attendees how to design their software so that content can be localized with a minimal need to change internal code.
Some of the areas to be covered are:
| • | Localizable content and code separation |
| • | Content expansion |
| • | String Handling |
| • | User Interface Controls |
| • | Images and Icons |
In conclusion, it will show that through the use of Unicode–based Pseudo–localization tools, software localizability can be test by non–bi–lingual personal, thus reducing even more the overall localization costs.
Lowering Cost Via More Efficient Software Localizability
(818KB PowerPoint presentation)
Houman Pournasseh, Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.
| • | Also available in PDF (414KB) |
Unicode and Windows XP
Windows XP, released October 25, 2001, builds upon the international functionality of the Windows 2000 platform. Windows XP provides improved globalization features related to Unicode such as support for new scripts, languages and locales, a wider variety of input locales and rendering features, enhanced support for surrogates and improved Multilingual User Interface (MUI) support.
The primary purpose of this paper is to outline the international support in Windows XP, describe this support within the historical context of Unicode on the Windows NT platform, discuss how language support is integrated into a single worldwide source, and finally, demonstrate that Unicode support is essential to building a fully globalized operating system. The trends in globalization in the next releases of Windows will also be discussed.
Unicode and Windows XP
(808KB PDF Document)
Cathy Wissink, Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.
Sorting It All Out: An introduction to Collation
People use collation in their daily lives: finding names in a phone book, perusing a library card catalog, reading a book index. As such, people have expectations on where to find information within a structure. What complicates the process is the fact that these expectations vary from culture to culture. In addition, people have implicit knowledge of the correctness of collation (is it right or wrong?), but generally cannot explain what the rules of correctness are.
In a properly globalized product, users will have properly collated data–e.g., in the file system, in a database, in an e–mail address book. How should implementers go about ensuring culturally–correct collation in product? What are the basic linguistic issues of collation, and how do they manifest themselves in technology?
This presentation will explain the basic tenets of collation in language, debunk some myths about collation in globalized software, show how collation functions are used (using examples from the Win32 API), and touch upon best practices.
Sorting It All Out: An introduction to Collation
(581KB PDF Document)
Cathy Wissink, Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.
Michael Kaplan, President/Lead Developer, Trigeminal Software, Inc.
Building International Applications with Visual Studio .NET
Visual Studio .NET makes it easy to develop globalized and localized applications for the .NET Developer Platform and Windows.
This talk covers how Visual Studio .NET allows working with Unicode source files and projects and how the provided compilers support this. Then the talk explores how the new Windows Forms provided by the .NET Development Platform enable developing globalized applications and how the development environment makes the task of managing multi–lingual projects easy. The same will be covered for Web Forms – the new forms concept for ASP.NET. Following that, the talk evaluates what internationalization features XML Web Services (SOAP, WSDL and UDDI) provide. The talk concludes with the introduction of internationalization enhancements for developers working with native C++ code and language support for application deployment.
Building International Applications with Visual Studio .NET
(479KB PowerPoint presentation)
Garrett McGowan, International Program Manager, Microsoft Corp.
ISO 10646/Unicode – Continued Convergence
The goal of this presentation is to inform the audience about the architecture of the ISO 10646/Unicode Standard and to increase the confidence of the audience in the strength of the relationship between the ISO technical working group (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC2/WG2) and the Unicode Consortium.
Now there is only one International Standard that contains the repertoires of the major scripts and languages of the world. As new characters and scripts are added the need for working together to preserve a single International Standard is of the utmost importance. The ISO technical working group and the Unicode Consortium continue to cooperate in the evaluation of any new additions to the repertoire.
Several officers from the ISO technical working group participated in the review of the Unicode 3.0 Book to ensure the continued convergence of both documents. The Unicode 3.0 Book provides renewed guidance to implementers of the International Standard that ensures a uniform and consistent interpretation of the standard across a variety of platforms. Similar reviews were also done for Unicode 3.2 which is also synchronized with the contents and repertoire of ISO 10646–2 which is in the process of being published by ISO Central Secretariat.
It is essential to proceed on this path to meet the original user requirements of having only one International Standard that is flexible and easy to implement. This International Standard is one of the building blocks in creating global and interoperable solutions across multiple platforms that meet and reflect the global market requirements.
ISO 10646/Unicode – Continued Convergence
(297KB PowerPoint presentation)
Mike Ksar, Senior Program Manager – International Standards Strategy, Microsoft Corp. & JTC1/SC2/WG2 Convener.
