Translating Objects

Not all translatable elements used internally by PeopleTools can be contained in resource files. Some strings referenced by Java and other components of PeopleTools are stored in Java-style property files. The PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture makes use of images for many navigational and user interface elements. Some of these images contain text which must also be translated.

This section discusses:

Java components of PeopleTools, such as the servlets on the web server, derive some strings from Java-style properties files. Java properties files are simple text files that are read at runtime by the servlet; these files contain strings that are displayed to the user, typically in error messages.

These files can be translated using any standard text editor, and are located on the web server. This table show the files that contain translatable text:

Base Properties File

Translated Properties File

text.properties

text_language_code.properties

errors.properties

errors_language_code.properties

The base version of the file (without a language code) contains the English version of the strings. Copy this file to a new file containing the language code of your target language before translating the contents. For example, if you are translating the resources into Quechua, you would create text_QUE.properties and errors_QUE.properties, and update these files with Quechua translations of the contents.

See Understanding the Addition of New Language Definitions.

When translating into a language that cannot be represented by the Latin-1 character set, such as Japanese, Chinese and Korean, the contents of the Java properties files must be converted into escaped Unicode character references. The Java Development Kit (JDK) contains the native2ascii utility that you can use to convert Unicode character references in a Java properties file into a native character set and vice versa. Refer to the native2ascii utility documentation in the JDK for more information.

The PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture uses many images as part of its user interface component, and some of these images contain text. You will typically translate only images that contain textual elements or elements that are specific to one language or culture.

Translating an Image

To translate an image:

  1. Change the PeopleSoft Configuration Manager language preference to the target language.

  2. Open Application Designer.

  3. Open the image.

    Choose File > Open and select the image you want to open.

  4. Export the image to a file.

    From the File menu, select Export Image and then select a filename and image format to save the image to disk.

  5. Use a graphics editor to modify the saved image file and update the translation.

  6. From the Edit menu, select Update Image.

    A standard Open dialog box appears.

  7. Open the file with the translated image.

    The new graphic replaces the original graphic in the image.

  8. Save the image.

    The translated image is saved into the related language table under the language that you selected in the Configuration Manager in the first step.