Language Tags
Description
Language tags can be used to add multi-language support to web and mobile applications.
Discussion
The language tag is a custom HTML tag used in Alpha Anywhere to add multi-language support to an application. The tags can be placed anywhere around static text can be written. <a5:r>..</a5:r>
- Name
- Description
- Specifying High Order Characters in Language Tags
High order characters are supported in Lanugauge Tags verbatim or HTML endcoded.
- Using Language Definitions
Language definitions define the text to display in Language Tags for the active language.
Videos
Printing a Free-Form Report in Multiple Languages
A common requirement in Web applications is to allow the user to select a language (e.g., French, German, English). For Grid and UX Components, the technique used is to wrap strings in language tags (e.g., <a5:r> and </a5:r>). However, for reports, a different technique must be used. This video shows how this can be done.
Printing a Layout Table Report in Multiple Languages
A common requirement in Web applications is to allow the user to select a language (e.g., French, German, English). For Grid and Dialog Components, the technique used is to wrap strings in language tags (e.g., <a5:r> and </a5:r>). However, for reports, a different technique must be used. This video shows how this can be done.
Internationalization - Language and Text Dictionary Tags
Language or Text Dictionary tags are typically used to internationalize strings in a component. However, adding the tags to a large component can be tedious. This video shows how the Internationalization Helper can be used to automate this task.
How to Localize a Grid or UX Component
In this video we give a brief overview of how a Grid or UX component can be localized so that the same component can be used for different lanugages. This technique involves using either Language tags (<a5:r>) or Text Dictionary tags (<a5:t>) around strings that need to be localized.
For certain languages, the text flow direction is right-to-left (e.g. Hebrew, Arabic). In Part 2, we show how JavaScript can be used to change the text flow direction for an entire page. The JavaScript is added to the component's render complete event. It sets the text direction using the following code:
document.body.style.direction='rtl'
Multiple Language Support in the TabbedUI and PageLayout Components
In this video, we demonstrate how to use Language tags in the TabbedUI and PageLayout component.
Multiple Language Support
If you are developing applications for multiple languages, you might want to change labels and prompts based on the current language. You can tag any text in the Grid definition as "replaceable" and then define multiple language definitions in which you define the values for all of the tagged strings in your definition.
This feature is extremely powerful because the replacement strings that you define in your language definitions can be expressions or static text.
This video shows how you can use this feature.
Customize Language in the Date Picker
The strings for month and day names in the Date Picker can be customized. This feature also works with the <a5:r> language translation tags, making it easy for your application to automatically use the appropriate language strings for different users.
The Options - Set Default Properties command in the Grid Builder has always allowed you to set default properties for the Grid when you create a new Grid. However, if you created a new Grid from a Template, the default properties you set were not honored. They were only honored if you created a blank new Grid. Now, the default properties are used even if you use a template. This makes it much easier to customize the Grid builder for developers whose native language is not English.
See Also