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General Category => CPCWiki Discussion => Topic started by: Gryzor on 17:44, 14 August 11

Title: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 17:44, 14 August 11
Hello guys,
Toyday Morn told me that he can't access http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Das_gro (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Das_gro)ße_Grafikbuch_zum_CPC . Well, Opera gives me a Not Found Apache error, Chrome gives me another error, but *very* interestingly, my Android device opens the page just fine! It's obviously down to the special character, but any advice?
Cheers
t
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: MaV on 19:14, 14 August 11
Difficult to debug:

The letter ß is Unicode U+00DF and %C3 %9F. If I type the latter into the http line instead of the "ß" the error remains the same.

The error message itself suggests bad coding:
"MediaWiki internal error.
Exception caught inside exception handler"

An exception that's caught but the code that catches it doesn't do anything meaningful to explain the situation.
Interestingly your link in the message stops exactly at the letter ß and interprets the rest as normal characters.

My guess is there is some switch in the wiki that changes the interpretation of the http requests of various browsers, or the interpretations of the encoding (like utf-8/utf-16, ISO-8859-1), or perhaps the wiki now just works with a different encoding, while some browsers silently assume another.

Are there more links that use European characters which have problems? Links containing among others áàèéöäüÁÀÈÉÖÄÜçÇ? That should help you with testing, and give you a hint what is wrong.

Since it works on the Android device, I don't think the data itself has suffered from the server move.
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 21:24, 14 August 11
Well, this problem seems to happen for all pages that have any German umlauts in the page title. Just look at the German section of the book list. Everything that contains a "für", "große", etc. produces the same error message in Safari and Firefox for me.


Martin

Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 22:42, 14 August 11
Yeah... we knew about the umlauts and thought it had to do with some screw-up during the first server change. But now, since I saw that it actually works with some set-ups (like the Android browser) it seems there's something else at play... I'll try at the mediawiki community.
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 23:05, 14 August 11
I've tried it with Opera and Links, too---same error message. I'm not sure why the Android browser acts differently.


It's a bit strange that the browser type would make any difference. They all encode non-ASCII characters in URLs in the same way, I think.


Martin

Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Bryce on 09:27, 15 August 11
I get the same error. Can't we rename the pages with "grosse" instead of "große" and "fuer" instead of "für" etc..
There can't be that many pages.

I does seem to be a wiki error though. The link above stops (isn't underlined) from the "ß" onwards. But links with Umlaut/ß on other sites are shown properly and Firefox opens them perfectly.

Bryce.
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 09:45, 15 August 11
Can someone who has set their computer locale as German give some feedback? Do you get the same errors?
@Bryce: we had done it with a couple of articles - basically you can't rename an article but you can create a new one... but since it seems it's not related to the db move I should try and fix it...
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Bryce on 10:09, 15 August 11
My PC is German (Keyboard) with a German Win7 installation and German Firefox.

Bryce.
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 11:56, 15 August 11
Not sure if all this has a bearing; is locale set to German? Maybe it don't matter, but you never know with Windows, since the early days of manually editing config.sys to make it properly display Greek has left its mark...
Title: Re: Germa characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 18:06, 15 August 11
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:56, 15 August 11
Not sure if all this has a bearing; is locale set to German? Maybe it don't matter, but you never know with Windows, since the early days of manually editing config.sys to make it properly display Greek has left its mark...


All affected pages worked perfectly on the old wiki server. I don't think a client-side config.sys can help when it looks like the server is misconfigured in some way. Are you sure those pages in the Android browser weren't cached?


Martin

Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: MaV on 18:53, 15 August 11
My computer is set to German as well, as it should be.

So every input to this thread were on German computers.

And Morn is right. They did work properly on the old server, so it's a server side problem.


And as bryce and I have found out: Even the link in your original posting stops at the "ß" and interprets the characters from then on as normal text.
Again, it's best check the wiki options, or the options of the underlying scripting language (PHP?).


Do any characters of other European languages suffer the same problem here (French, Greek, etc.)?
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 19:40, 15 August 11
Quote from: MaV on 18:53, 15 August 11
Do any characters of other European languages suffer the same problem here (French, Greek, etc.)?


French books with accents in the title also produce the error. So do Spanish titles with that wiggly line over the n:
(That last word is "Ninos", with an accent over the n, in case the forum software cuts it off.)


http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/El_Amstrad_y_los_Ni (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/El_Amstrad_y_los_Ni)ños


Martin


P.S. As before, the link automatically created by the forum software stops at "Ni"!

Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Bryce on 21:00, 15 August 11
Quote from: Morn on 19:40, 15 August 11
P.S. As before, the link automatically created by the forum software stops at "Ni"!

Is that like "The knights that like to go Neee" ? :D

Bryce.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 21:13, 15 August 11
Quote from: Bryce on 21:00, 15 August 11
Is that like "The knights that like to go Neee" ? :D

Bryce.


Yes, we seem to have a Monty Python virus on the new server.  ;D


Martin

Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: nurgle on 21:29, 15 August 11
Arghhh, Umlauts always get back to bite me. Can be the locale system setting, MySQL locale setting or apache setting. I will try to solve this. Thanks for reporting.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Bryce on 22:12, 15 August 11
Quote from: Morn on 21:13, 15 August 11
Yes, we seem to have a Monty Python virus on the new server.  ;D

Maybe we just need to bring the server a Shrubbery. :D

Bryce.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 00:12, 16 August 11
Quote from: Bryce on 22:12, 15 August 11
Maybe we just need to bring the server a Shrubbery. :D

Bryce.


Or, better yet, combine the shrubbery with the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog and the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. And then nuke the site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure.  ;D


Martin

Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 01:45, 16 August 11
Quote from: nurgle on 21:29, 15 August 11
Arghhh, Umlauts always get back to bite me. Can be the locale system setting, MySQL locale setting or apache setting. I will try to solve this. Thanks for reporting.


I would suspect PHP. Both MediaWiki and the forum software use it, and the fact that automatic link creation in the forum fails as soon as it encounters a non-ASCII character strongly suggests a PHP configuration issue I think.


Martin

Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 08:19, 16 August 11
(http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/aa373dcf-ba01-4e4d-a4bf-9530d0957595.jpg)

PS Morn: good thinking...
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: robcfg on 09:47, 16 August 11
I've also noticed that there are two pages for that book on the wiki. I don't know if that could cause any issues.


Search for Grafikbuch (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Special:Search?search=grafikbuch&go=Go) and you'll see it.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: AMSDOS on 09:57, 16 August 11
Quote from: Gryzor on 08:19, 16 August 11
(http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/aa373dcf-ba01-4e4d-a4bf-9530d0957595.jpg)

PS Morn: good thinking...

LOL! I just brought & watched the Holy Grail for the first time the other day! Spooky!  :laugh:
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 19:21, 16 August 11
Must've watched it a dozen times, fantastic movie...
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: nurgle on 22:50, 16 August 11
Just a quick update: The database is mixed latin1 and utf8, so it's not that easy to debug. I tried to convert everything to utf8, but that fails since some indexes can't be created properly then. Setting the charset in php.ini or on a database level did not help. So, there is not solution yet. I am sure I will find one, but it may require some more thinking plus a lot of trial-and-error. I am working on it.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: MacDeath on 16:35, 18 August 11
Quoteß
Well, why can't you just SS like the rest of the world....

Oh yeah, last time Germany used the SS, it didn't ended that well.

Ok, I guess the post-war germany imposed the use of the ß because all Nazi related stuff was forbiden so Waffen-ß was more politicaly correct then waffen-SS...
;D


Sorry, was just kidding... ;)

Btw I love Waffleß and LuftWaffles (with Nutella of course)
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 16:50, 18 August 11
Quote from: MacDeath on 16:35, 18 August 11
Well, why can't you just SS like the rest of the world....

Oh yeah, last time Germany used the SS, it didn't ended that well.

Ok, I guess the post-war germany imposed the use of the ß because all Nazi related stuff was forbiden so Waffen-ß was more politicaly correct then waffen-SS...
;D


Sorry, was just kidding... ;)

Btw I love Waffleß and LuftWaffles (with Nutella of course)


We simply need our umlauts because they are officially cool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_umlaut)


It's a little-known fact that umlauts are so cool that German houses don't need air-conditioning even in August. I actually have to wear a parka and snowshoes right now. :D


Martin


(http://elizabethholcombe.typepad.com/elizabeth_holcombe_whimsi/images/2008/02/11/zhivago_ice_house_1_2.jpg)<<<Typical German summer weather
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Morn on 17:11, 18 August 11
Quote from: MacDeath on 16:35, 18 August 11
Well, why can't you just SS like the rest of the world....

Oh yeah, last time Germany used the SS, it didn't ended that well.

Ok, I guess the post-war germany imposed the use of the ß because all Nazi related stuff was forbiden so Waffen-ß was more politicaly correct then waffen-SS...
;D


And on a more serious and linguistic note: The "ß" character actually evolved from "sz", not "ss"! (That why it's called "Ess-Zett" in German.) So it's a bit strange modern German uses "ss" for the "ß" character when substituting...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9F (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9F)


Martin

Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: MacDeath on 17:57, 18 August 11
QuoteWe simply need our umlauts because they are officially cool
Yeah, I almöst förgöt äböut thëm töö.

Do they bug too ?

Anyway, ümläüt (Trema in french) are not that exotic because we have them on azerty french Keyboards...


Quite strange as they are quite reraly used in France but official anyway...

Aigüe : sharp
Haï : hated...

QuoteAnd on a more serious and linguistic note: The "ß" character actually evolved from "sz", not "ss"! (That why it's called "Ess-Zett" in German.) So it's a bit strange modern German uses "ss" for the "ß" character when substituting...
Because you don't want your language to look like Slavic language...
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: MaV on 18:09, 18 August 11
Quote from: MacDeath on 17:57, 18 August 11
Quite strange as they are quite reraly used in France but official anyway...

Aigüe : sharp
Haï : hated...
Because you don't want your language to look like Slavic language...

Name one slavic language which contains those characters. ;)

I guess in France it's more related to fashion. If it's not en vogue, the characters are less likely written. :P

On the other hand, how about a spelling reform. Leave the characters that are not spelt out of the text and insert the German vowels as substitute for the French ones:

Je ne sais pas. -> Jö ne sä pa. :D

To be honest, it's not my idea. It's inspired by the French text of the Brütal Legend game. When you're offered to play with or without excessive blood shown, the French text reads: "Je veux dü sangue." I've just taken it to an extreme.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Bryce on 19:07, 18 August 11
Motörhead isn't the same without an Umlaut :(

@MacDeath: The french aren't much better, or how would you spell the word for "Heart" in french on an English keyboard?

Bryce. 
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: MacDeath on 07:43, 19 August 11
coeur...
why bother with the O and E being soldered... ::)


anyway the French AZERTY keyboard is quite notorious for being shitty IMO.

I mean we have é, è, ç, à, ù... but i would rather have prefered somme key to add those accents to any letters just like the ^ and ¨... or even ~ as in ê, ï and ñ.

I found the spanish keyboard very well implemented, the only issue being the Ñ key... :(
but otherwise the accents are more logical than with french keyboard...

QuoteName one slavic language which contains those characters.
I guess the Polish does... they have perhaps one of the most complete alphabet, despite lots of dual or tripple letters sounds...


Anyway, Brütal Lëgend is fär fröm being originäl gäme... (this must be odd to you german speackers...) :P

I would suggest to reuse the Renegade engine, but get it with real use of the 128K RAM + multiloadings...

And a PLUS 512K Cartridge version  with added scrollings, DMA samples and HardSprites special effects...(+raster for the HUD...) ;)
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Bryce on 08:30, 19 August 11
I don't mind the French CPC Plus keyboard except for one major thing:

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO REVERSE THE NUMMERIC KEYS AT THE TOP SO THAT YOU HAVE TO PRESS SHIFT TO GET THE NUMBERS!!! No other keyboard does this, not even other french keyboards as far as I know.

Can someone edit the ROM for me so that it works the other way around (as it should).

Bryce.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: MacDeath on 18:06, 19 August 11
I agree.

But you can still use the numkey pad.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: Gryzor on 12:20, 20 August 11
I think it was some drunk developer; when they found out it was too late, the code for the chips had entered production in Hong Kong and so they just printed the keys thus.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: nurgle on 08:12, 02 September 11
To get back on topic: I just upgraded MediaWiki to 1.17 and the upgrade script picked up whatever setting changed from the old to the new server. Umlaute-URLs are now working just fine (at least for me). Please report any bugs you still find.
Title: Re: German characters in the wiki
Post by: redbox on 11:10, 02 September 11
Quote from: Bryce on 08:30, 19 August 11
Can someone edit the ROM for me so that it works the other way around (as it should).

Your wish is my command.

BIN and CPR for Plus (patched so no f1/f2 menu), AZERTY keyboard with characters on keys 1-0 inverted:
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