zone definition within a country, what should be in zone_code/how is it used?

[torvista]

Hi,
after a cursory look through the files, I see the zone_code field does get referenced here and there and is sometimes compared to the zone name but I would like some comment on what should type of value should be in the code field:
a postcode, an abbreviated version of the zone name, an alternative spelling, a localized or international version of the province name?
What function does it have in Zen Cart?

[torvista]

No one has ever used this?

[Ajeh]

The zone_code in the zones table is a character field ... this could be 2 characters or 3 characters or a full name ...

Have you more details on what you are trying to do with it or how you are trying to use it?

You could browse the zones table in phpMyAdmin to see what all might be stored in there ...

[torvista]

This came about as I was looking at the sql for inserting zones for a country and I realised I had no idea where this field is used and so there was no guidance/documentation as to what should be in there. Sounds like it doesn't have any purpose, just legacy code?

[Ajeh]

The zone_code does have a purpose ...

The zone_code is the State/Province of a Country ...

If you browse the zones table, you can see how the zones_code is used for the various countries ...

[torvista]

Thanks for replying but I interpret zone_name as the name of the province.

For zone_code there is a 2 or 3 letter abbreviation of the province with the sole exception of Spain which uses the same full province name in zone_code
Hence my query how does zone_code get used? Is it supposed to be a language-agnostic/internationalized/standardized name for that province?

[Ajeh]

Countries use the ISO code standards:
http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes/country_codes