[Ietf-calsify] Section 4.1.2 Multiple Values: LANGUAGE parameter

[Cyrus Daboo]

Hi Bernard,

--On November 5, 2006 5:29:25 PM -0500 Bernard Desruisseaux 
<bernard.desruisseaux at oracle.com> wrote:

> RFC 2445 allows some properties of TEXT value type to be specified
> multiple times. In some cases (e.g., "TZNAME") it is specified that
> the property can be specified more than once for specifying multiple
> language variants of the property value.
>
> I think section 4.1.2 Multiple Values should clarify how the
> "LANGUAGE" parameter should be handled with multi-valued TEXT
> properties.
>
> For instance, in a "VJOURNAL" calendar component, can I have two
> "DESCRIPTION" with "LANGUAGE=en", but only one "DESCRIPTION" with
> "LANGUAGE=fr"?  If so, should my client only display the one in
> French, or should it display all three values?
>
> Currently, I think it should display all three values...

Its really not clear how multi-lingual 'alternatives' of an iCalendar 
component should be handled. The suggestion of using multiple properties 
with different LANGUAGES really does not work as there is no way to 
unambiguously tie the variants together as alternatives.

A better approach might be to say that language alternatives should be 
constructed at the MIME level - i.e. as separate components in separate 
MIME parts inside a multipart/alternative.

-- 
Cyrus Daboo