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0 pointsnetsharc11mo ago0 comments

> any SaaS app in Canada that exports xlsx files

Why would you need to localize it there? I'm sure it's the Excel the user has is the one doing the localization, so I can email my French colleague an Excel file and the formula in B5 which is =SUM() on my machine will be =SOMME() on hers.

There's even sites for the dictionary of the function names, but googling "Excel french dictionary" gives you the top result that "That word in French is 'exceller'!"

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graypegg11mo ago

(For good reason) Language is a picky thing in Canada, it's very important (when selling to the federal government or Québec) that both English and French localizations have equal footing.

To open a en-US XLSX file in a fr-CA copy of Excel, you will need the en-US language pack. If you make this a requirement for a Québec government entity... you will not get that contract.

netsharcOP11mo ago

> To open a en-US XLSX file in a fr-CA copy of Excel, you will need the en-US language pack

Are you sure? That sounds insane. Maybe if you're exporting a CSV where you insert the formulas as text, and expect the Excel to do some magic conversion..

I'm pretty sure that XLSX file is "universally" openable, and the user using the fr-CA copy of Excel will see =SOMME( ... ), doesn't matter what locale the source Excel is.

ChatGPT says:

> The Office Open XML specification, standardized as ECMA-376 and ISO/IEC 29500, defines how formulas are stored in XLSX files. It specifies that:

> Function names and formula grammar are stored in a locale-independent (invariant) format in the file — specifically, English-language function names.

> You can find this in: ECMA-376, Part 1: Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference, Section 18.17 “Formulas”

graypegg11mo ago

It might have changed since I last had to deal with this (I hope!) but excel, at least ~5 years ago, was storing cell contents as they appear in the function box in the UI. As in, `1,23` is 1 and 23/100 when read in fr-CA, and this would apply to the function names as well. So `=SOMME(...)`. Excel is smart enough to pick up on a locale flag in the file format, but obviously it then shows you a dialog asking you to convert it, needing the language pack.

I also won't assume that we were making "good" excel documents. It's possible we were shipping badly made exports haha

immibis11mo ago

ChatGPT is often wrong, so this is meaningless unless you go and find the actual source.

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graypegg11mo ago

(For good reason) Language is a picky thing in Canada, it's very important (when selling to the federal government or Québec) that both English and French localizations have equal footing.

To open a en-US XLSX file in a fr-CA copy of Excel, you will need the en-US language pack. If you make this a requirement for a Québec government entity... you will not get that contract.

netsharcOP11mo ago

> To open a en-US XLSX file in a fr-CA copy of Excel, you will need the en-US language pack

Are you sure? That sounds insane. Maybe if you're exporting a CSV where you insert the formulas as text, and expect the Excel to do some magic conversion..

I'm pretty sure that XLSX file is "universally" openable, and the user using the fr-CA copy of Excel will see =SOMME( ... ), doesn't matter what locale the source Excel is.

ChatGPT says:

> The Office Open XML specification, standardized as ECMA-376 and ISO/IEC 29500, defines how formulas are stored in XLSX files. It specifies that:

> Function names and formula grammar are stored in a locale-independent (invariant) format in the file — specifically, English-language function names.

> You can find this in: ECMA-376, Part 1: Fundamentals and Markup Language Reference, Section 18.17 “Formulas”

graypegg11mo ago

I also won't assume that we were making "good" excel documents. It's possible we were shipping badly made exports haha

immibis11mo ago

ChatGPT is often wrong, so this is meaningless unless you go and find the actual source.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse