Maintaining Translation Tables Workflow for Oracle BI Enterprise Edition

The Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation layer supports multiple translations for any column name. When working with Oracle BI Answers or rendering a dashboard, users see their local language strings in their reports.

For example, English-speaking and French-speaking users would see their local language strings in their reports. There are two kinds of application strings requiring translation:

  • Metadata

    Metadata strings are analytics-created objects in the repository such as subject areas, metrics, and dimensions.

  • Presentation Services

    Presentation Services objects are end-user created objects such as reports, dashboards, and pages. Translations for Presentation Services strings are stored in the XML caption files. .

Adding String Localizations for Oracle BI Repository Metadata

If you added a new domain member, you can add string localizations in the Oracle BI Repository metadata.

  1. Stop the OPMN services.

    Use the command: opmnctl stopall.

  2. Open a database administration tool, and connect to the Oracle Business Analytics Warehouse schema.
  3. Identify the strings for the following presentation objects:
    • Subject area
    • Presentation table
    • Presentation hierarchy
    • Presentation level
    • Presentation column

    For example, for the subject area Payables Invoices - Prepayment Invoice Distributions Real Time, enter the following strings:

    String Presentation Object

    Payables Invoices - Prepayment Invoice Distributions Real Time

    Subject area

    Time

    Presentation table

    Date - Year

    Presentation hierarchy

    Total

    Presentation level

    Year

    Presentation level

    Calendar Year

    Presentation column

  4. For each subject area, externalize the strings for localization and generate custom names for the presentation objects:
    1. In the Oracle BI Administration Tool, right-click the subject area and select Externalize Display Names, and then select Generate Custom Names.
    2. Save your work.

    See Localizing Metadata Names in the Repository in System Administrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

  5. Check the consistency of the repository, and remove any inconsistencies.

    See Checking the Consistency of a Repository or Business Model in Metadata Repository Builder's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

  6. Enter the custom name of one of the presentation objects into the table C_RPD_MSGS:
    INSERT INTO C_RPD_MSGS(MSG_ID, CREATED_BY, CREATION_DATE)
    VALUES('<CUSTOM NAME OF PRESENTATION OBJECT>', 'CUSTOM', SYSTIMESTAMP);
    COMMIT;
    

    To view the values for custom names and logical columns in the Oracle BI Administration Tool, right-click the presentation object and select Properties. The data in the Custom display name field appears in the format VALUEOF(NQ_SESSION.VALUE, where VALUE is the custom name for a presentation object, or the logical value for a presentation column. This value is the value that you need to enter in the VALUES section of the SQL statement above.

  7. Enter the localized string for the presentation object in the previous step into the table C_RPD_MSGS_TL:
    INSERT INTO C_RPD_MSGS_TL(MSG_ID, MSG_TEXT, LANGUAGE_CODE, CREATED_BY, CREATION_DATE)
    VALUES('<CUSTOM NAME OF PRESENTATION OBJECT>', '<LOCALIZATION OF THE STRING'>, '<LANGUAGE CODE FOR TRANSLATED LANGUAGE>', 'CUSTOM', SYSTIMESTAMP);
    COMMIT;
    

    To identify the language code for a particular language, use the following SQL:

    SELECT LANGUAGE_CODE, NLS_LANGUAGE, NLS_TERRITORY
    FROM FND_LANGUAGES_B
    WHERE INSTALLED_FLAG IN ('B', 'I');
    
  8. Enter additional details about the presentation object into the table C_RPD_MSGS_REL as indicated by the following SQL:
    INSERT INTO C_RPD_MSGS_REL(MSG_ID, MSG_NUM, MESSAGE_TYPE, CREATED_BY, CREATION_DATE)
    VALUES('<CUSTOM NAME OF PRESENTATION OBJECT>', '<TRANSLATION OF THE STRING'>, '<LANGUAGE CODE FOR TRANSLATED LANGUAGE>', 'METADATA','CUSTOM', SYSTIMESTAMP);
    COMMIT;
    
  9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 for each presentation object requiring localization.
  10. Validate that the physical connection of the session initialization block INIT_USER_LANGUAGE_CODE is operable:
    1. In the Oracle BI Administration Tool, select Manage, Variables, Session Initialization Block.
    2. Right-click INIT_USER_LANGUAGE_CODE.
    3. In the Properties dialog, click Edit Data Source.
    4. Click Test, and input the value for the language code. Then, click OK.

      For example, for Arabic enter 'AR'.

      The value USER_LANGUAGE_CODE = '<language code>' should be returned.

      If this value is not returned, the TNS entry for the data source is not properly configured.

  11. Restart the OPMN services.
  12. Verify the localized strings in Oracle BI Answers. On the login page, specify the appropriate language.