Bug 41335

Summary:	undefined: Numeric dot should turn into a comma only in a numeric context in French
Product:	LibreOffice	Reporter:	darkdadaah
Component:	Localization	Assignee:	Not Assigned <libreoffice-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED NOTABUG	QA Contact:
Severity:	enhancement
Priority:	medium	CC:	darkdadaah, jbfaure, mleduque, naoliv
Version:	3.3.2 release
Hardware:	Other
OS:	All
Whiteboard:	BSA
i915 platform:		i915 features:

Description darkdadaah 2011-09-29 07:15:05 UTC

Problem description: French (and other non anglo-saxon languages) uses comma as decimal separator. Hence, the numeric dot on the keyboard was changed to output a comma everytime.
Considering the stupid placement of the dot punctuation in the French keyboard (shift + ;), a lot of people actually use the more accessible numeric pad dot as the punctuation dot, and end up writing commas mistakingly.
This key is represented as a dot and writes a dot in every other non-office programs, the user would then expect to write a dot with it, unless in numeric context.

Current behavior:
In French LO, the numeric pad dot writes a comma in every context.

Expected behavior:
I propose that this dot should turn into a comma only when the context is numeric, i.e. when the dot/comma is directly followed by a digit.

Comment 1 Mickaël Leduque 2012-01-20 00:34:42 UTC

Actually, I expect a dot it even when it could be confused with a numerical context.
I often write version numbers, e.g. 1.0, which are *not* decimal numbers and I use the keypad dot for that.

If I want to write a decimal number with a decimal separator, I'll use the comma on the keyboard.

The important point is : there is a character printed on the key, and I expect it to appear when I press the key. I don't expect a comma to appear when I press a "dot" key. And I certainly don't expect it to change according to the context.

Another point : I have a keymap configured, an application shouldn't override it.

Comment 2 darkdadaah 2012-01-20 02:40:40 UTC

@Mickaël: I had the same problem with version numbers, for example when writing the name of a file (I ended up with files_v1,01.odf).

The context is indeed a bad idea, there is no correct rule and it becomes unpredictable.

Maybe an option to turn the "numeric pad dot -> comma replacement" on or off would be nice to have (in the linguistic options), and this should also be restricted to the documents themselves and not the file names etc.; that would be the same as e.g. the replacement of "" to «» (in French).

Comment 3 Jean-Baptiste Faure 2012-01-22 10:31:26 UTC

Long and old discussion. Not a bug as LO works as designed. Changed to enhancement.
I suggest you, to discuss the problem ux-advise mailing list. I am afraid that you may have difficulties to reach any consensus.

Best regards. JBF

Comment 4 Mickaël Leduque 2012-03-29 07:37:32 UTC

Just tested with 3.5.1, this bug is still there.

Comment 5 Jean-Baptiste Faure 2012-03-31 12:37:54 UTC

Please do not change version which gives the first version for which the problem has been reported.

Comment 6 Jean-Baptiste Faure 2012-06-23 15:26:16 UTC

(In reply to comment #2)
> [...]
> Maybe an option to turn the "numeric pad dot -> comma replacement" on or off
> would be nice to have (in the linguistic options)

In French : menu Outils > Options > Paramètres linguistiques > Langues > case "Touche séparateur de décimales". Please read the help : 
http://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Languages#Decimal_separator_key_-_Same_as_locale_setting
In French : http://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Languages/fr#Touche_s.C3.A9parateur_de_d.C3.A9cimales_-_Identique_.C3.A0_l.27environnement_linguistique

On the other hand, I do not see how you can decide that you are in a numerical context. What to do for version numbers, phone numbers ?

I suggest to close this bug report as Resolved/Not_A_Bug.

Best regards. JBF

Comment 7 Mickaël Leduque 2012-06-25 00:59:03 UTC

In fact that works.
- the numeric keypad key "dot" produces a dot
- the locale decimal comma separator is a comma (checked in calc by entering an integer in a cell and forcing the format to 2 digits after the decimal comma)

I'd just argue that the option description is not clear enough : "touche de séparateur de décimales" didn't immediately appear to apply to the numeric pad dot key.

Comment 8 Joel Madero 2012-06-26 15:41:36 UTC

As suggested I am marking this as NOTABUG and closing it.

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