19.3 Creating Translatable Content
This section provides the information you need when you are ready to translate specific content objects. It contains the following subsections:
19.3.1 Adding a Translated Item
If your portal is configured to display in more than one language, then it is likely you will be adding content to it in each language it uses. A large part of a portal translation is taken care of automatically: all the standard user interface elements, including their labels and hint text are automatically translated; all intrinsic messages are automatically translated. But the content you provide, including item content and any attribute values you enter manually, must be translated by you. Once you have translated the content, the rest is easy.
To provide a translated version of content:
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Log in to Oracle Portal.
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Go to the Set Language portlet, and select the language under which you will add an item translation.
It may be necessary to ask your page group administrator to make this portlet available to you. It is located under Portal Content Tools in the Portlet Repository.
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Go to the page on which to provide an item translation.
For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".
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Click the (translated) Edit link at the top of the page.
This opens the page in Edit mode.
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Click the Edit Item icon next to the relevant item (Figure 19-1).
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Upload the translated content, enter translated text, or otherwise provide the content translation for the item, and enter translated values for any translatable item attributes.
At this point, providing translated content is the same as editing the specific type of item on an untranslated page. For information on how to add an item, see Section 14.2, "Adding Items to a Page".
A variation on this task occurs when item versioning is enabled and multiple language versions plus the latest default language version of an item are available. In such a case, you are given the opportunity to select an item version from which to copy attribute values. For more information, see Section 19.3.3, "Copying Translatable Attributes".
The original item displays in your portal's default language, as usual. The translated version displays when you select the translation language from the Set Language portlet.
In the translated view of the page, any content that has not been translated into the selected language is displayed in the default language. (For more information, see Section 19.1.2, "Displaying a Translation".)
Note:
WebDAV clients expose only the base (default) translation content of a page group. This means that updates to translations cannot be performed and will not be displayed through WebDAV. Copies and moves initiated from WebDAV may fail as Forbidden if they do not operate between page groups with the same default language.19.3.2 Translations and Item Versioning
The implicit behavior of translation creation also applies when you use item versioning. When you create a new version of an item, a new record is added to the portal schema in the Oracle Metadata Repository. All versions of an item have the same Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) but each version is assigned a new ID attribute value. A Current Version attribute indicates which version is active. For example:
| GUID | ID | Version | Language | Display Name* | Current Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44429 | 44430 | 1 | us (default) | Airline Information | N |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | us (default) | Airline Information 2 | Y |
When you switch to French and edit the current version, a French record is implicitly created for Version 2. Notice that no translation exists for Version 1 and that both the English and French records for Version 2 have the same ID:
| GUID | ID | Version | Language | Display Name* | Current Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44429 | 44430 | 1 | us (default) | Airline Information | N |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | us (default) | Airline Information 2 | Y |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | fr | Voyage Aériens: Informations 2 | Y |
With the language still set to French, create a new version (3). An English (default language) record is implicitly created for Version 3, with attribute values copied from the English record for Version 2:
| GUID | ID | Version | Language | Display Name* | Current Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44429 | 44430 | 1 | us (default) | Airline Information | N |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | us (default) | Airline Information 2 | N |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | fr | Voyage Aériens: Informations 2 | N |
| 44429 | 44432 | 3 | us (default) | Airline Information 2 | Y |
| 44429 | 44432 | 3 | fr | Voyage Aériens: Informations 3 | Y |
Switch back to English, and create a new version (4):
| GUID | ID | Version | Language | Display Name* | Current Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44429 | 44430 | 1 | us (default) | Airline Information | N |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | us (default) | Airline Information 2 | N |
| 44429 | 44431 | 2 | fr | Voyage Aériens: Informations 2 | N |
| 44429 | 44432 | 3 | us (default) | Airline Information 2 | N |
| 44429 | 44432 | 3 | fr | Voyage Aériens: Informations 3 | N |
| 44429 | 44432 | 4 | us (default) | Airline Information 4 | Y |
Notice that no translation is created for Version 4. Therefore, when version 4 is the current version, no translation is displayed. This may cause users to think that their translations have disappeared. Translations for version 4 must be manually created by editing version 4 in the nondefault language(s).
For more information, see Section 19.3.3, "Copying Translatable Attributes"
19.3.3 Copying Translatable Attributes
When you translate an item in a page group where item versioning is enabled, you have the opportunity to copy the attributes of any earlier translation or the latest default-language version and apply them to the new translation of the item. Use the Available Translations section in the Edit Item wizard to select the item version from which to copy attributes.
For translated items, you can view and edit only translatable item attributes. The non-translatable attributes do not display on the Item Attributes screen (see Section 19.1.3, "Translation and Attributes"). However, you can view the non-translatable attributes by clicking the Properties icon (Figure 19-2) in the banner at the top of the Edit Item screen.
To change non-translatable attributes, you must set the portal to its default language view and edit the item there. Whatever changes you make to non-translatable attributes are made automatically across all translations of the item.
The Available Translations section displays on the Item Attributes page under the following conditions:
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The page group has at least one available translation
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Item versioning is set to Simple or Audit for the page group or the current page
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The item's status is neither Pending nor Draft
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You are working in a language other than the default language
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The default-language version of the item is more recent than the translated version
For example, imagine that versioning is enabled, English is the default language, and you have the following versions:
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V1: English
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V2: English, French
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V3: English, French, German
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V4: English, French, German
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V5: English
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V6: English, French
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V7: English (latest default-language version)
When you add a new French version, the Available Translations option displays on the Item Attributes screen in place of the default Item Version Control section. The Available Translations section includes a drop-down list of available versions. The drop-down list includes V7: English, as the latest default-language version, as well as all the French versions of the item (V2, V3, V4, V6).
When you add a new German version, the Available Translations option displays with a selection list that includes V7: English, as the latest default-language version as well as all the German versions of the item (V3 and V4).
If the latest French or German version you are updating is V7, this dialog does not display.
By default, the latest version of an item always displays. If you update a default-language version of an item, but do not update the translated version of the item, the default-language version displays in the translated version of the portal. Your options are:
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Leave this "as is"
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Add a translated version at the same level as the most recent default-language version
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Select an earlier translated version for display from the Item Actions screen. See Section 14.12, "Using Item Version Control".
To select a version for translation:
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Log in to Oracle Portal.
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Go to the page that contains the item for which to provide a new translation.
For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 8.1, "Locating Pages in Oracle Portal".
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Click the Edit link at the top of the page.
This opens the page in Edit mode.
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Click the Edit Item icon beside the relevant item (Figure 19-3).
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From the Copy From drop-down list in the Available Translations section, select the version of the item from which to copy attribute values.
Note:
If you make changes to item attributes, then select a different version from the Copy From drop-down list, any changes made to item attributes on the Edit Item screen are lost. Once you click Go, the Item Attributes screen repopulates with the attribute values of the newly-selected version. Select a version from Available Translations and click Go before you change any item attribute values. -
Click Go.
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Click OK to confirm your selection, copy the selected version's attributes, and return to the Item Attributes screen.
19.3.4 Translations and Approvals
Translations of items can be submitted to an approval process when they are created or edited. To properly review and approve content for a pending translation, approvers must always set their session language to the same language as the translation.
For example, a user with the page (or tab) privilege Manage Items With Approval creates a French translation of an item and submits it for approval. The French display name of the item appears in the approver's Notifications portlet, even when the approver's session language is set to English. Approvers can approve or reject the item independent of what their session language is set to. However, if they are to either preview the changes or edit the translation's attributes, they must first switch their session language to French.
Note:
As the approver, if your session language is not the language of the submitted translation, you can approve an item without previewing the changes. If you plan to preview the item before approval, always switch the session language to the language of the submitted translation.To properly preview and approve content for a pending translation, approvers must always set their session language to the same language as the translation.
The same rules apply when an approver edits a pending item. If an approver has the required edit privilege on a pending item, he or she can edit the item without disrupting the approval process. However, if the item is in a language other than the default language, it can be edited only in that language. In other words, assuming the page group's default language is English, when a French translation displays in the approver's queue, the approver cannot edit the translated item while the session language is set to English. The approver can edit the translated item only by first setting the session language to French (provided the approver has the privileges required to edit the item).
For information on which users can view items in what state, see Section 17.9.3, "Item URL Security".
19.3.5 Translations and Object Deletion
Deleting an object from a page group deletes all translations of the object. This includes the deletion of all attribute values associated with the object. For example, imagine that you have a page group with a default language of English and a translation in French. If you delete the French translation of a category, the English category is also deleted, as are all the attribute values associated with the category, such as its Title Image, Rollover Image, and Icon. All objects classified under the deleted category are reclassified under the General category.