19.2 Creating a Translatable Page Group

When you want to make a page group available in different languages, you do so by creating one or more translations of the page group. Once you configure the page group for a particular language, content contributors can add content in that language.

Creating translations provides the opportunity for you to create parallel views of your portal—each in a different language. Using translations, you can provide the same experience to your users no matter what language is used to access your portal.

This section provides information about creating a translatable page group. It contains the following sub-sections:

For information about adding content to translation, see Section 19.3.1, "Adding a Translated Item". For information about working with versions and translations simultaneously, see Section 19.3.3, "Copying Translatable Attributes".

Note:

Before you can create a translation for a particular language, the application messages for that language must be installed. For information about this, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Portal.

19.2.1 Planning for Translations

This section provides information that is useful to know when you are planning one or more translated versions of your portal. It includes the following subsections:

19.2.1.1 Installing Languages

You can enable translations at the page group level for any installed language. Languages are installed by the portal administrator using the ptllang script. For more information on ptllang, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Portal.

Before users can add translated content, translation to the relevant language must be enabled for the page group. For information on enabling the translation of a page group into a particular language, see Section 19.2.2, "Adding Translation Languages to a Page Group".

19.2.1.2 Choosing a Default Language

Every page group has a default language. Page group creators select a default language for a page group from the list of installed languages when they create the page group. Once a default language is selected, it cannot be changed.

Every object in a page group has a record associated with the default language. In addition, if translations are enabled in the page group, each object may have a record associated with each of the available languages. These records are the translations of the object.

Note:

To choose a default language for a page group, you must have at least the global privilege Create on the object type All Page Groups

You choose the default language of a page group when you create the page group. To choose a default language for a page group:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

  3. In the Page Groups portlet, click the Create Page Group link.

    In default installations, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

  4. On the resulting page, enter a Display Name for the page group.

    Use up to 256 characters. Use any character. Multi-byte characters are allowed.

  5. From the Default Language drop-down list, choose a default language for the page group.

  6. Click Create.

Once you click Create, the Default Language selection is fixed and cannot be changed for the page group.

19.2.1.3 What Must Be Translated?

Creating a translation makes it possible to provide parallel views of your portal: one view for the base (or default) language, another view for a second language, another view for a third language, and so on. You translate your content and add it to the appropriate translated view. Oracle Portal provides translations for error messages and user interface elements, and provides the appropriate language formats for portal-provided numbers and dates.

In addition to your content, you will probably want to translate any displayed metadata values that were provided when the default-language version of the content was uploaded. For example, the following list shows information translators may want to translate:

  • Category display names and images

  • Perspective display names and images

  • Page display names, descriptions, and images

  • Page parameter display names and descriptions

  • Item display names, descriptions, keywords, URLs, files, text, and images

  • Attribute display names

  • Custom item and page type display names, descriptions, and images

  • Style names

To view a page group in a particular language, users select the language in the Set Language portlet. Numbers and dates display in the format appropriate to the language. Lists are sorted in the order appropriate to the language. If a user chooses a language in the Set Language portlet for which no translation exists, the page group content is displayed in the default language.

19.2.1.4 Translation, Names, and Display Names

Typically, changes to Display Names apply only to the current session language. Translations to Names affect all language versions. For example, when you change the Name of a category, all translations use the new name. When you change the Display Name of a category, only the current translation's version of the Display Name is changed.

For more information, see Section 19.1.3.1, "Translatable Attributes", earlier in this chapter.

19.2.1.5 Adding Content in a Language Other than the Default Language

When you add new information to a page group, the information is added to the translation associated with the user's current portal language setting. If the language is not the page group's default language, the information is also added to the default language view of the portal. When users view the page group in the default language, they will see the new information in the language in which it was added until a translation in the default language is provided.

For example, imagine a page group with a default language of English and a translation in French. If the user creates the initial item in the French view, a copy is created in the default English view. Everyone who accesses the English view displays the item and sees its French content. When a user edits the item in the French view, those changes apply only to that translation. The users accessing the item in the English view see the original (French) item, without the edits.

For more information, see Section 19.3.1, "Adding a Translated Item".

Note:

You cannot copy an item from a page group with one default language into a page group with different default language. You cannot do this even if the other default language page group is set to the same language as the first page group through the Set Language portlet. Objects can be copied only between page groups sharing a common default language.

When both page groups have the same default language but not all the same translations, items with translated versions copy from one page group to another with only the translations that are common to the two page groups.

19.2.1.6 Translations and the Shared Objects Page Group

The default language of the Shared Objects page group is English. If you create a page group in a language other than English, then add an untranslated object from the Shared Objects page group to it, an error is displayed. As a work-around, provide translations for shared objects; or, at least, provide a translation for the relevant shared object.

This can have implications particularly when you want to share a template over non-English page groups. Objects on a template from the Shared Objects page group that do not have an explicit translation in the relevant language do not display on the non-English pages that are based on the template. If you want those objects to display, first you must add translated versions of those objects to the template. For more information, see Section 19.3.1, "Adding a Translated Item".

The same holds true for navigation pages. That is, a navigation page in the Shared Objects page group must be translated to the default language of a non-English page group in order for it to be used in that page group.

19.2.2 Adding Translation Languages to a Page Group

When a page group is created, it is available in a single default language (specified at creation time). You can subsequently create translations of the page group. Once a translation is created, content contributors can easily add content to a page group in the translation language. When users choose to view the portal in the translation—for example, by selecting the translation language in the Set Language portlet—they see the translated content.

To add a translation language to a page group:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

  3. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the page group for which to configure a translation.

    By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

  4. Click the Configure link.

  5. Click the Translations tab to bring it forward.

  6. From the Language list, choose the translation language.

    This list includes the languages for which translations have not yet been created, but whose application messages have been installed and made available for user data translation.

  7. Select the Online check box to make the language accessible to all users.

    If you do not select Online, the language is accessible only to users with the page group privilege Manage All.

  8. Click Apply after each selection before adding a new language.

  9. Click Create.

  10. Click OK.

19.2.3 Making a Translation Available to All Users

When you first create a translation, the translation is available only to users with the page group privilege Manage All. You can edit a translation's status setting to make it available to all users.

To change the status of a translation:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

  3. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the relevant page group.

    By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

  4. Click the Configure link.

  5. Click the Translations tab to bring it forward.

  6. Under the Edit Translation section, select Online to make the translation available to all users.

    If you do not select Online, the translation is available only to users with the page group privilege Manage All.

  7. Click Apply before changing the status of another language.

  8. Click OK.

19.2.4 Deleting a Page Group Translation

Deleting a translation deletes all the content in the page group for the translation language. You cannot delete the page group's default language (that is, the language specified when the page group was created) unless you delete the entire page group (including all its translations).

To delete a translation from a page group:

  1. Log in to Oracle Portal.

  2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

  3. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the page group that owns the translation to be deleted.

    By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

  4. Click the Configure link.

  5. Click the Translations tab to bring it forward.

  6. Click the Delete icon next to the translation to be deleted.

  7. Click OK.