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Some important design considerations apply to developing truly multilingual applications. Consider the following simple sequence of screen panels representing a product inquiry:

^{Specify Product Number}

^{Key in Product Number and press Enter.}

^{Product Number . . . . . . . 64786}

^{Product Details}
^{Product Number . . . . . :  64786}
^{Description  . . . . . . . . . :  1 kg plastic bag of cane sugar}
^{Short Description  . . . :  SUGAR 1KG}
^{Price  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :  2.45}
^{Stock on Hand  . . . . . . :  7685}

Initially the RDML program could be coded like this:

     GROUP_BY NAME(#PANEL001) FIELDS(#PRODNO #PRODES #PROSDES #PRICE #STOCK)
     BEGIN_LOOP
     REQUEST FIELD((#PBINST01 *OUTPUT *NOID) #PRODNO)
     FETCH FIELDS(#PANEL001) FROM_FILE(PRODMST) WITH_KEY(#PRODNO)
             IF_STATUS IS_NOT(*OK)
             MESSAGE MSGTXT(*MTXT12347)
             ELSE
             DISPLAY FIELDS(#PANEL001)
             ENDIF
     END_LOOP

By setting up the correct multilingual attributes for this program you can instantly achieve the following variations in this program. Refer to Specifying a Field's Multilingual Attributes for details.

Execute the application in French

^{Specification du Numero de Produit}

^{Tapez le Numero de Produit puis faites Enter}

^{Numero de Produit . . . . . 64786}

^{Details du Produit}

^{Numero de Produit . . . : 64786}^{Description . . . . . . : 1 kg plastic bag of cane sugar}^{Description Abregee . . : SUGAR 1KG}^{Prix . . . . . . . . . . : 2.45}^{Stock Disponible . . . . : 7685}

Execute the application in German

^{Produkt Nummer Angeben}

^{Geben Sie die Produkt Nummer ein und drucken Sie Eingabe}

^{Produkt Nummer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64786}

^{Produkt Detail}

^{Produkt Nummer . . . . . . : 64786}^{Seschreibung . . . . . . . . . . : 1 kg plastic bag of cane sugar}^{Kurzbeschreibung . . . . . . : SUGAR 1KG}^{Preis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2.45}^{Verfugbare Menge . . . . . . : 7685}

Notice what's wrong?

The product description and short description shown are still in English.

This simple example illustrates a very important point.

LANSA can get all the details it knows about out on the screen in the correct language, but because this is intended to be a completely multilingual program, it should have stored the product details in two separate files:

One for the non-language dependent product details (like price and stock on hand);
The other for the language dependent product details (like the long and short descriptions).

If the program was coded like this (making use of the system variable *LANGUAGE to determine the language):

GROUP_BY NAME(#PANEL001) FIELDS(#PRODNO #PRODES #PROSDES #PRICE #STOCK)

BEGIN_LOOP
REQUEST FIELD((#PBINST01 *OUTPUT *NOID) #PRODNO)
FETCH FIELDS(#PANEL001) FROM_FILE(PRODMST) WITH_KEY(#PRODNO)
FETCH FIELDS(#PANEL001) FROM_FILE(PRODLNG) WITH_KEY(*LANGUAGE #PRODNO)
         IF_STATUS IS_NOT(*OK)
         MESSAGE MSGTXT(*MTXT12347)
         ELSE
         DISPLAY FIELDS(#PANEL001)
         ENDIF
END_LOOP

The result would be a true multilingual system where side by side users could be running the same program in completely different languages.

Execute the application in French

Specification du Numero de Produit Tapez le Numero de Produit puis faites Enter Numero de Produit . . . . . 64786

Details du Produit Numero de Produit . . . : 64786 Description . . . . . . : 1 kg sac plastique de sucre Description Abregee . . : SUCRE 1KG Prix . . . . . . . . . . : 2.45 Stock Disponible . . . . : 7685

Execute the application in German

Produkt Nummer Angeben Geben Sie die Produkt Nummer ein und drucken Sie Eingabe Produkt Nummer . . . . . . . 64786

Produkt Detail Produkt Nummer . . . . . : 64786 Seschreibung . . . . . . : 1 kg Plastiksack mit Rohzucker Kurzbeschreibung . . . . : ZUCKER 1KG Preis . . . . . . . . . : 2.45 Verfugbare Menge . . . . : 7685