Overview of Configuring Symbolic Strings

A symbolic string is an object that you can use to store the value of a string. It allows you to define a string one time, and then reference it from multiple objects. An object can reference this symbolic string to get a literal value, and then display it as text in the Siebel client. For example, an applet can reference a symbolic string to get the text it shows in a control caption, a list column display name, or an applet title.

A translatable string is a type of string that Siebel CRM can translate to another language. For example, it can translate the text string that defines a control label from English to French.

The symbolic string centralizes all the strings in the repository. It includes strings in English and all other languages. It includes the following advantages:

• Reduces redundancy because many objects can reference one symbolic string

• Results in a more consistent user interface

• Simplifies maintenance because you are required to maintain only one string for a word or phrase

• Eliminates duplicate translations of the same word

• Reduces translation costs

Siebel CRM cannot translate a nontranslatable property to another language. For example, the HTML Sequence property, HTML Height property, and HTML Width property are nontranslatable properties.

If you deliver to the repository, then the current language mode that you set for Siebel Tools or Web Tools is used. It uses this language mode to choose from one of several translations for a set of symbolic string locale records. For more information on how to deliver your Workspaces, see Delivering Workspaces.