Converting Symbolic Strings

This topic describes how to convert symbolic strings. It includes the following information:

You can convert a translatable string to a symbolic string. Siebel CRM stores this translatable string as a child locale record of a top-level object type. It stores symbolic strings in a single table. Converting a translatable string might be useful in the following situations:

You upgrade to a new Siebel CRM version and you want to convert custom translatable strings to symbolic strings.
You use string overrides to store text strings and periodically want to convert them to symbolic strings.

Converting to symbolic strings reduces the size of the repository, simplifies translations, and helps to make sure that the text that Siebel CRM shows in the Siebel client is consistent. It also requires that development work is finished.

To convert symbolic strings

Review the caution information described in Caution About Converting and Consolidating Symbolic Strings.
Prepare to do the conversion:
1. Back up the Siebel database and repository.
2. Verify the configuration file:
  - Make sure the DataSource parameter references the correct Siebel database. The conversion utility uses this Siebel database.
  - Make sure the EnableToolsConstrain parameter is set to FALSE and that the SymStrPrefix parameter is set to the appropriate prefix.
  For more information, see Modifying the Configuration File to Support Symbolic Strings.
3. Make sure all projects are unlocked.
4. Inform other developers not to log on to the development environment while the conversion runs.
In the Object Explorer, select the Attribute object type.

For more information, see Displaying Object Types in the Object Explorer.
Identify the object types you want to convert:
1. In the Object Explorer, click the Flat Tab, and then click Attribute.
2. In the Attributes list, query the Name property for the following string:
```
*String Reference*
```
  The Parent Type property displays the complete set of object types to convert. If an object type includes more than one property that references a symbolic string, then you can run the conversion for this object type only one time.

Convert locale strings to symbolic strings. You must convert the locale strings for the object types you identify in Step 4. You can use the conversion utility to do this conversion:

Open a command line, and navigate to the $SIEBEL_HOME\BIN folder.

Enter the following command:

consoleapp config_file app_lang user_Id password "business_service" 
"business_service_method: parameters"

The following table describes the parameters in the command that you can set. For more information, see Running the Console Application Executable.

Parameter	Description
config_file	Specify the configuration file, such as tools.cfg. Use the default data source. For more information, see Modifying the Configuration File to Support Symbolic Strings.
app_lang	Specify the application language, such as ENU.
user_Id	Specify the user Id.
password	Specify the password.
business_service	Specify the String Conversion business service.
business_service_method	Specify the name of the business service method.
parameters	Specify the input parameters to the business service method. For more information, see Separating Conversion Files into Smaller Files.

Export candidates for one of the object types you identified in Step 4. Enter the following command:
```
consoleapp "ConversionExport: Filename=name.txt, Repository=repository_name, 
Object=object_type, LogFile=object_typeExport.log, Language=language_code,MatchMin=an_ineger"
```
For example, the following command exports the control object type:
```
consoleapp "ConversionExport: Filename=Control.txt,Repository=Siebel Repository,
 Object=Control, LogFile=ControlExport.log, Language=ENU, MatchMin=1"
```
For information about setting parameters in this command, see Conversion Export Utility Parameters.

For more information, see How the Conversion Export Utility Converts Strings.
Repeat Step 6 for each object type that you identified in Step 4.

Import the symbolic strings that you converted in step 6. Enter the following command:

consoleapp "ConversionImport: Filename=name.txt, Repository=repository_name, 
LogFile=name.log, UnlockProjects=false, SkipParentUpdates=true, Project=Symbolic Strings"

For example:

consoleapp "ConversionImport: Filename=Control.txt, Repository=Siebel 
Repository, LogFile=ConversionImport.log, UnlockProjects=false, SkipParentUpdates=true, 
Project=Symbolic Strings"

For information about setting parameters in this command, see Conversion Import Utility Parameters.

For more information, see How the Conversion Import Utility Converts Strings.

Consolidate strings.

For more information, see Consolidating Symbolic Strings.