Question: you can change the comma?
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Hi folks.
With an imperial setting, the dot is used as a decimal separator to separate the integer and the fractionnal part of numbers like in 3.14. The comma is used to separate list items like 3.5,4.3,7.4 (like the ones you would put in the VCB).
Here in Canada, since we use the metric system, I use the same regional localisation as they use in most of Europe where the comma is used as the decimal separator like 3,14 and the semi colon is used as the list separator like 3,4;2,3;7,6. The only drawback is that I have to use the comma on the regular keyboard to input decimal numbers since the comma on the numerical keypad is seen by SU as a dot and produce input errors. I am baffled since Excel, for example, can cope with this and produce comma when I use the keypad dot (or comma) key.
I have pointed this to the SU programmers many years ago (at least three or four) and I have still to see a fix for that.
By the way, this is on PC. On the Mac, the DOT/COMMA key on the numerical keypad produce a comma and is seen by SU as a correct decimal number. I need to use the regular keypad semicolon to separate list items, which is OK with me.
Just ideas.
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thanks
i´ll stop wondering then. -
Actually, the decimal separator has nothing to do with whether a country uses the decimal system or Imperial. Britain is decimal, as is the entire Commonwealth, but that doesn't stop us using a decimal point.
It's true that most Europeam countries use a comma as a separator (radix point), as do many South American and Asian countries, but actually, the majority of people in the world actually use the point (period or full stop).
This is because it is used in the entire English-speaking world (not S. Africa but including English-speaking Canada) as well as such other populous places as Mexico, India, Pakistan, China and Japan.
That didn't stop the continental-European-biased ISO deciding that a comma would be used for international blueprints, however.
Given that the default setup on computers and other such digital devices is not going to change any time soon...if ever...maybe Europe could fall in line with the English-speaking world for once instead of constantly demanding the opposite.
That aside, it would be useful to many if SU could be a little more flexible in this area.
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With the UK drawing standard now being BS8888, the decimal separator is specified as a ','.
Does anyone in the UK follow that? Since I was introduced to the decimal point at school in the early '60's for maths (and the forgotten subject "engineering drawing") that's what it always been. The change to a comma in BS8888 is irrelevant as far as I can see because in my area of mechanical engineering NO ONE uses it.[RANT]
But in the UK we only have ourselves to blame. If our industry got more involved with BSI groups, and put forward FORCEFULLY what we in the UK want/need rather than leave it to BSI staff, university 'ivory tower' types, and civil servants, we might end up with better standards rather than 'stuff' imported from Europe. But it's all down to competent staff being allowed time to attend meetings which unfortunately doesn't happen these days.
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I think in that case it really doesn't matter wether to use , or .
important is only to establish a worldwide standard.the same counts for adopting the metric system throughout the world and abandoning feet and inches. calculations are much simpler in the first one.
another such thing is degree centigrade and fahrenheit. there is literally no reason to ceep the latter system
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Obviously the ivory tower types in the BSI never talk to the ISO. The latter have said it doesn't matter whether you use the comma or point as long as it's on the baseline, not used as superscript...the way it is in certain parts of Europe.They have also said that the thousands separator should be a simple space to avoid confusion, thus 999 999.99
A good few British schools now use this system.Still, SU or the OS itself ought to be able to accomodate either form. I'd imagine that part of the problem is that computers of every ilk tend to use commas as separators of values....as in csv files. These can be anything from exported email folders to the way that SU stores its location info. Just use Notepad to open locations.dat in the Resources folder.
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Actually the semi colon (and the [] and <> brackets) are a pain to use in SU (at least on my Hungarian keyboard layout) since I need to enter these symbols by using the Ctrl+Alt or AltGr button combinations. And to move something to relative or absolute coordinates for instance, you need these symbols but guess what? SU just toggles between Copy+Move and simple Move and the VCB keeps overwriting itself.
Workaround; move along one axis at a time (3x more time to achieve something - not to speak about calculations).
This is obviously a problem (though language specific one). I can however use an english keyboard layout to override this but then I have to find out what is where.
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My computer has the hilarious habit of changing which input it uses. It started with the , and ; setup, so I learned SU that way. Then, for whatever reason, it switched to the . and , setup. I found no solution then and had to get used to it. Now, after several months, it's switched back. I am so annoyed right now.
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@huggkruka said:
My computer has the hilarious habit of changing which input it uses. It started with the , and ; setup, so I learned SU that way. Then, for whatever reason, it switched to the . and , setup. I found no solution then and had to get used to it. Now, after several months, it's switched back. I am so annoyed right now.
Are your keyboard language switching?
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Yeah, some basic info like operating system, language of OS etc. wouldn't be bad in such a case.
I use a laptop with (US) English keyboard but with a Hungarian OS (XP) on it. When I need my native characters, I switch between keyboard layouts with the Shif+Alt key combination (which is the system default). In this case, especially characters like the semicolon are shifted elsewhere.
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Yes this works in Windows 7 also.
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