Defining a Default Locale

You can define a default locale in any .ini file. Most or all of your programs can use the same locale, and specifying the default locale makes specifying the locale in every program unnecessary.

When you install SQR, the default locale is set to the reserved locale called System. System is not an actual locale. It defines the behavior of older versions of SQR before NLS was added. The preferences in the system locale are hard-coded in the product and cannot be set or defined in the pssqr.ini; however, you can alter system settings at runtime by using ALTER-LOCALE. The date preferences depend on the database that you are using. Therefore, date format preferences in the system locale are different for every database that you use with SQR.

Note: If you are running SQR outside of the PeopleSoft Process Scheduler, the PS_HOME environment variable must be set to a proper PeopleSoft installation.

Different sites can have different locales as the default. For example, an office in Paris might use the French locale, and an office in London might use the UK-English locale. To adapt a program to any location, use the default locale. The program automatically uses the local preferences, which are specified in the pssqr.ini file of the machine on which it is run. For example, you can print the number 5120 by using the following command:

print #invoice_total () edit '9,999,999.99'

The setting of the default locale in the pssqr.ini file controls the format. In London, the result might be 5,120.00 and in Paris it might be 5.120,00. The delimiters for thousands and the decimal—the comma and the period, respectively—are switched automatically according to the preferences of the locale.

Note: Changing the settings of the default locale can change the behavior of existing programs. For example, if you change the default locale to French, programs that previously printed dates in English can now print them in French. Be sure that you review and test existing programs when making a change to the default locale.

Personalizing a Default Locale

Starting with PeopleTools 8.54, users in different geographical regions can generate personalized SQR reports specific to the region. However, you can customize only the following default locale settings:

  • DECIMAL-SEPARATOR

  • THOUSAND-SEPARATOR

  • DATE-SEPARATOR

  • TIME-SEPARATOR

  • DATE-EDIT-MASK

The default values for each locale setting will be used if personalization is enabled for SQR reports for a specific user. Personalization of SQR reports will be an option that the administrator will grant. By default, the feature remains off. To generate a region-specific report, the administrator must enable Personalize SQR Settings in the PIA. For more information about personalizing user, see Understanding My Preferences Personalizations..