ProtoPeoplePicker Name Display Changed in Newton 2.1

One of the Newton 2.x OS Q&As
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This document was exported on 7/23/97.

NEW: ProtoPeoplePicker Name Display Changed in Newton 2.1 (7/2/97)

Q: In Newton OS 2.0, the protoPeoplePicker displayed names as "last, first", but in Newton 2.1 OS it displays "first last". How can I make protoPeoplePicker display the original way?

A: You will need to create a subclass of the nameRefDataDef for people that will display the name in "last, first" format. The good news is that this workaround will work on both Newton 2.0 and Newton 2.1. The basic steps are:

1. Register your own subclass of nameRefDataDef that does the right thing

2. Use this new data def class in the dataClass slot of your peoplePicker

3. Unregister your subclass when you are done (for instance, when quitting the application)


Here is some code that can be used to register a subclass. Put the following in a text file in your project:

    // create a unique symbol for the the data def    DefineGlobalConstant('kMyDataDefSym,        Intern("nameRef.people.lastFirst:" & kAppSymbol)) ;    DefineGlobalConstant('kMyGetFunc,        func(item, fieldPath, format)        begin            // if this is a person, not a company, modify stuff            local entry := EntryFromObj(item) ;                if fieldPath = 'name AND format = 'text AND entry AND                 IsFrame(entry) AND ClassOf(entry) = 'person then            begin                local nameFrame := entry.name ;                if nameFrame AND nameFrame.first AND nameFrame.last then                    return nameFrame.last & ", " & nameFrame.first ;                else                    return inherited:Get(item, fieldPath, format) ;            end             else                return inherited:Get(item, fieldPath, format) ;        end    ) ;
Put this code into the viewSetupFormScript of the base view of your application:

            // register my modified people data def        RegDataDef(kMyDataDefSym, {_proto: GetDataDefs('|nameRef.people|),                        Get: kMyGetFunc}) ;
Put this code into the viewQuitScript of the base view of your application:

        // unregister my modified people data def        UnRegDataDef(kMyDataDefSym) ;

Use the kMyDataDefSym constant as the value for the dataClass slot of your protoPeoplePicker or protoPeoplePopup