GeneXus Application Localization - Programming considerations

This article contains some important considerations to keep in mind when using GeneXus Application Localization.

Criteria to define Language Names and Descriptions

Shared translations among GeneXus users worldwide can save translation time. It can be achieved if everyone has a well-known Language naming convention.

GeneXus suggests using the language name in English as a Language object Name, and the name of the language in your language as the Language object Description.

Samples

• Language object Name: Italian
• Language object Description: Italiano

• Language object Name: French
• Language object Description: Frances
   

Common translation problems

Remember that in some cases translating texts will not be appropriate.

For example, in conditions, Where, If clauses, you may be comparing attribute or variable values with a fixed text, and it may not be appropriate to translate that fixed text. This is the case, for example, with the comparison:

if CategoryName = “Gold”
   ... //do something
endif

If the “Gold” fixed text is translated into Spanish, the generated code would be as follows: 

if CategoryName = “Oro”
   ... //do something
endif

This may not work for your case. If it does not work, the alternatives to solve cases like these are:

• Use Enumerated Domains. The Enumerated Domains codes are not translated, but their descriptions are.
• Define that the fixed text must not be translated. To do so, precede it with an exclamation mark (!) as shown below:

if CategoryName = !“Gold”
   ... //do something
endif

Define multiple languages

As of Android 7.0 (Nutshell), it is possible to define multiple languages in the device settings. Taking advantage of this feature, GeneXus automatically infers which language of the Knowledge Base is closer than the primary dialect set on the device. If no matches are found, the language set for the Kb Language property as default will be used.

For example, suppose that the app generated by GeneXus uses English/Italian, with the default language being English. Therefore:

• If the device is set to use Spanish (only), the app will be displayed in English (default).
• But if the device is set to use Spanish/Italian, the app will be displayed in Italian.