LiveCode 7 and Bi-directional fields

[Fraser Gordon]

Hi all,

Due to the many responses we received to our question about adding new chunk types to the LiveCode engine, I thought it might be useful to ask you about another potential change coming in LiveCode 7.0: how fields should handle bi-directional text.

Currently, fields can be aligned to the left, centre or right and default to the left. This means that any right-to-left (RTL) or bi-directional (BiDi) text entered into the field will always align to the left, rather than to the most natural side for the text being entered. The question that arises is can and should we change this?

Question 1: should the text alignment options be expanded to include "start" and "end"? (Start means right for RTL and left for LTR while end is the opposite)

Question 2: if we expand the options, should we interpret "left" and "right" in existing stacks to mean "start" and "end", respectively? This would mean alignment flips when RTL text is entered, making support for RTL text easier. On the other hand, it might be undesirable in some cases.

Question 3: if we don't add "start" and "end" alignments, should left/right always mean left/right or should they mean the opposite when the field is set up for RTL text? Some office suites and text editors take one approach, others the opposite…

The fact that existing applications don't all follow the same standard makes it more difficult to decide if any particular approach is the right one. What do you think LiveCode should do?

Regards,
Fraser