Subject: [VCARDDAV] add to vCard properties: Sort Form

From: Nick Levinson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:05:30 -0800 (PST)

Namespace: global

Property name: SORT-FORM

Purpose: Instead of requiring us to retype an entire string for every vCard's Sort String, increasing errors, let us have a default value for many of these, then change the default for exceptions.

Value Type: text, case-insensitive, limited to surname, as default, and given, for Given Name.

Description:
--- Sort String should be retained as implementors already expect it. Sort Form should also be available as a property.
--- With the subsuming of Additional Names into Given Names, Additional Name is no longer an appropriate value.
--- I'm unclear on the meaning of any-param, which appears for most properties, so perhaps it belongs in this ABNF definition, too.

ABNF format definition:

SORT-FORM-param = "VALUE=text" / any-param
SORT-FORM-value = "surname" / "given"

Example: SORT-FORM:surname

Thank you.

-- 
Nick

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From: Simon Perreault <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:35:28 -0500

> Property name: SORT-FORM

I also don't understand what this property does.

(Is it just me?)

Simon
-- 
DNS64 open-source   --> http://ecdysis.viagenie.ca
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---

From: Markus Lorenz <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:55:14 +0100

> I also don't understand what this property does.

I think he might want to avoid some kind of redundancy. If you have a
vCard partly looking like this:

   N:Pereault;Simon;Mr.
   SORT-STRING:Pereault

then there is redundancy in form of your surname. You could avoid this
by using placeholder to build the SORT-STRING. He calls it SORT-FORM and
it would look like this:

   N:Pereault;Simon;Mr.
   SORT-FORM:surname

Nevertheless I don't think this is reasonable. Because I can not imagine
many situations in which the redundancy would be critical. One would be
if you change the name of a vCard. Then you would also have to change
the SORT-STRING, which maybe could be avoided using SORT-FORM.

BUT: I think it almost never occurs that you change the name of a vCard.
Maybe when someone got married. But even then you would have to check
the SORT-FORM again if it existed. Because if you used it and the name
surname changed from "Smith" to something like "von der Harten" you
could not use the SORT-FORM any more. The new SORT-STRING would be
"Harten".

The solution from my point of view would be, to let the application
which writes your vCards just propose some SORT-STRINGs which it builds
from the name. But this seems to be no issue which the vCard format
should worry about.

---

From: Simon Perreault <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:34:23 -0500

> from the name. But this seems to be no issue which the vCard format

Yes, I agree that this is something that should be solved at the application
level, not at the data format level.

Simon