Ch 6 Localization

WebSphere Product Center provides localization that adheres to ISO’s Internationalization Standards. Locales are created based on language/country pairs, which provide variances across countries (i.e. U.S. English, British, English).

Localization is configured at the spec level (primary, lookup table, or secondary spec), therefore, it is possible to localize a single node or multiple nodes and set localized display names for each node. Once a spec has been configured with localization and associated with a catalog, localized data can be imported into or exported from WebSphere . Catalogs that contain localized nodes can be set to view a specific set of locales for an item set displayed in the user interface through the user's settings.


Features

Localizing spec node values for a primary, lookup table, or secondary specs

Localize catalog display names

Display catalog items in one or more locales depending on the user's settings, role, and views


Restrict locales

The restriction of locales that are displayed in the user interface is controlled through company attributes, user settings and/or role configurations.

Setting available locales for the company

Before any data can be localized, the available locales must be set for the company. This task should be performed by the WebSphere Product Center administrator.

1. Use the menu path Data Model Manager > Security > Company Attributes; the "Company Locales setup" table appears.

Figure 6.1 - Company Locale setup table

2. Click on a language from "Languages" and a country from "Countries", then click Add to add the locale to the "Selected column".

3. To remove a locale, click on a locale from the "Selected" column and click "Remove".

4. When all locales have been selected, click Save. All selected locales are available to users in the company.

Restricting locales to display for a role

Restricted locales can be defined for a role. When a user is assigned to the role, the user's graphical interface will be restricted to the locales defined for the role. Therefore, the user’s locale is based on the role that they are assigned to and the role locale restriction overrides control from the user settings. From the list of roles to restrict or make available in the user settings, the user is able to control which locales are restricted based on the locales that are made available through the role definition.

1. Use the menu path: Data Model Manager > Security >  Role Console; the Role Console is displayed.

2. Select a Role to edit and click Edit or simply click on the name of the role to get to the edit role screen.

3. When a new role is created, it is defaulted for all categories and hierarchies to use all available locales for the company. To change the locales available for this default setting, scroll to the bottom of the screen to the "Locale access for role" table. Click on the edit button and add/remove locales and click Save.

4. To create a new locale access for the role, click the New Locale Access button to display the "Containers To Locales Map" wizard. This allows the restriction of locales to a specific object (catalog or hierarchy. Add/remove locales and click Save.

Figure 6.2 - Locales access configured for role

5. To apply locale restrictions defined by the role, assign a user to the role using the User Console.

Restricting locales to display in user settings

1. Use the menu path Home > My Settings; the several user setting tables appear.

2. Select one of the following settings to control which locales are displayed in the user's graphical interface:

Locale for user interface display

Select a locale to use for the User Interface. This only applied to the graphical user interface.

Locale for Item and Category Data Display

Set the locale to display item or category data.

Restrict the displayed attributes in item and category screens to the selected locale

This option restricts the display of a selected locale for attributes in item and category screens.

3. Click Save, to commit the settings.


Localized specs

Localization is defined at the spec level for primary, lookup table, and secondary specs. This section details how to configure localization for a spec.

The implementation of localization within WebSphere Product Center provides the proper structure to support database localization, because all locales are stored as separate strings. The data for the node is moved to the leaf nodes.

The display names that are created will appear in the item list/edit screens based on the locale setting in the user settings. The actual translation of the data is done manually, but is stored in each individual leaf node.

Note: The localized check box option is not available if it has already been localized or localization is not available.

Configure spec for localization

1. From the Specs Console, select a primary, lookup table, or secondary spec to localize and click Edit.

2. Select the Localized checkbox in the "Details for ... spec" table. The "Localization Information" section appears.

3. Select the locales from the "Available Locales" column and add them to the "Selected Locales" column. Click Save to save the spec.

4. Click on a spec node. Enter localized display names in the "Display Name" section. This allows for the display name for the spec node to appear in different languages.

5. Click the Localized checkbox for the spec node. Notice that the node has been localized for all locales defined for the spec. Continue to localize each node of the spec, if desired.

Figure 6. 3 – Localized node

Entering localized data

Once the a spec has been localized, data can be entered separately for each locale for an item. All locales appear in the catalog item list, unless specified otherwise in the user's setting or role. If no localized display name was created for the locale, the default name appears.

Figure 6. 4 - Data for localized node entered manually

Creating attribute collections with localized nodes

When defining an attribute collection, it is possible to include a node for a specific locale. When searching for a spec and/or attribute from the create attribute collection screen, localized nodes are indicated by "(L)'. 

Figure 6.5 - Select node for specific locale for attribute collection

Import/Export to localized nodes

The ability to import/ into localized nodes is made simple through the use of WebSphere Product Center’s Mapping Console. If a source file contains fields that are localized for various regions they can be mapped to the proper localized nodes of the catalog. Thus, the same can be done for exports.


Localization issues

There are no locale selections in My Settings

The company has not been configured for any locales. Use the menu path Data Model Manager > Security > Company Attributes, the Company Locales Setup screen appears.

Select the required locales for the company. The selected locales appear as a selection in the user's settings.