Phone numbers should allow '+' to store international numbers

[nus-pe-bot]

Steps to replicate:

• add n/John Doe i/S1234567A d/2000-01-01 g/M p/+66 98765432 e/johnd@example.com a/311, Clementi Ave 2, #02-25

Expected output: new patient added

Actual output: "Phone numbers should only contain numbers, and it should be at least 3 digits long"

Although it has been specified in the UG that only numbers are allowed and also longer numbers are allowed to store international numbers, this can lead to confusion especially between different international numbers. This is something that cannot be overlooked as a lot of patients do own international numbers like Malaysians who work in Singapore or Singaporean students who study overseas. To prevent confusion, it would be important to clearly store the country code like +65.

---

_{[original: nus-cs2103-AY2425S1/pe-interim#1147] [original labels: severity.Medium type.FeatureFlaw]}

[yadobler]

Team's Response

Thank you for your feedback! We believe that while country codes are sometimes represented with a + prefix, for many instances, international phone numbers are entered using "00" instead of the "+" symbol, especially when dialling internationally.

By supporting numbers without enforcing a specific prefix symbol like "+", we accommodate a wide variety of phone number formats and provide flexibility for users who are familiar with different ways of inputting international numbers.

Additionally, enforcing a strict format could potentially confuse or inconvenience users who are more accustomed to dialing without the "+" symbol. Instead, we have chosen to leave the formatting of international numbers open to accommodate the different dialling conventions globally.

---

Example:

calling thailand from singapore:

We especially believe that this allows for specially crafted numbers that our users can use to quickly dial as well. Hence, we feel that the severity of this issue should be Low instead of Medium.

Duplicate status (if any):

--