why are arabic numbers (١٢٣) not accepted in textboxes as real numbers?

Question

while developing one of my sites, i noticed that if I enter arabic numbers (١٢٣), they are not interpreted as real number values. Then, I tested a few other sites only to find that they also don't accept arabic numbers.

The problem is, my client seems to require this functionality (accepting arabic numbers).. and I have no idea where to start. My platform is magento (php).

Answer 1

AFAIK you need to install an arabic language pack with ./mage install - see http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/Ahmed+J.+Hadi/extension/353/magento-community-modules--arabic-saudi-arabia-language-pack