--- loncom/localize/lonlocal.pm	2008/09/20 01:57:50	1.48.2.1
+++ loncom/localize/lonlocal.pm	2008/11/24 16:53:16	1.51
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The LearningOnline Network with CAPA
 # Localization routines
 #
-# $Id: lonlocal.pm,v 1.48.2.1 2008/09/20 01:57:50 raeburn Exp $
+# $Id: lonlocal.pm,v 1.51 2008/11/24 16:53:16 jms Exp $
 #
 # Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees
 #
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ use locale;
 use POSIX qw(locale_h strftime);
 use DateTime();
 use DateTime::TimeZone;
+use DateTime::Locale;
 
 require Exporter;
 
@@ -378,12 +379,50 @@ sub locallocaltime {
     }
 }
 
-# ==================== Normalize string (reduce fragility in the lexicon files)
+sub getdatelocale {
+    my ($datelocale,$locale_obj);
+    if ($Apache::lonnet::env{'course.'.$Apache::lonnet::env{'request.course.id'}.'.datelocale'}) {
+        $datelocale = $Apache::lonnet::env{'course.'.$Apache::lonnet::env{'request.course.id'}.'.datelocale'};
+    } elsif ($Apache::lonnet::env{'request.course.id'} ne '') {
+        my $cdom = $Apache::lonnet::env{'course.'.$Apache::lonnet::env{'request.course.id'}.'.domain'};
+        if ($cdom ne '') {
+            my %domdefaults = &Apache::lonnet::get_domain_defaults($cdom);
+            if ($domdefaults{'datelocale_def'} ne '') {
+                $datelocale = $domdefaults{'datelocale_def'};
+            }
+        }
+    } elsif ($Apache::lonnet::env{'user.domain'} ne '') {
+        my %udomdefaults = &Apache::lonnet::get_domain_defaults($Apache::lonnet::env{'user.domain'});
+        if ($udomdefaults{'datelocale_def'} ne '') {
+            $datelocale = $udomdefaults{'datelocale_def'};
+        }
+    }
+    if ($datelocale ne '') {
+        eval {
+            $locale_obj = DateTime::Locale->load($datelocale);
+        };
+        if (!$@) {
+            if ($locale_obj->id() eq $datelocale) {
+                return $locale_obj;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return $locale_obj;
+}
+
+=pod 
+
+=item * normalize_string
+
+Normalize string (reduce fragility in the lexicon files)
+
+This normalizes a string to reduce fragility in the lexicon files of
+huge messages (such as are used by the helper), and allow useful
+formatting: reduce all consecutive whitespace to a single space,
+and remove all HTML
+
+=cut
 
-# This normalizes a string to reduce fragility in the lexicon files of
-# huge messages (such as are used by the helper), and allow useful
-# formatting: reduce all consecutive whitespace to a single space,
-# and remove all HTML
 sub normalize_string {
     my $s = shift;
     $s =~ s/\s+/ /g;
@@ -394,13 +433,27 @@ sub normalize_string {
     return $s;
 }
 
-# alias for normalize_string; recommend using it only in the lexicon
+=pod 
+
+=item * ns
+
+alias for normalize_string; recommend using it only in the lexicon
+
+=cut
+
 sub ns {
     return normalize_string(@_);
 }
 
-# mtn: call the mt function and the normalization function easily.
-# Returns original non-normalized string if there was no translation
+=pod
+
+=item * mtn
+
+mtn: call the mt function and the normalization function easily.
+Returns original non-normalized string if there was no translation
+
+=cut
+
 sub mtn (@) {
     my @args = @_; # don't want to modify caller's string; if we
 		   # didn't care about that we could set $_[0]