Multilingual Capabilities in coreFORCE

The system administrator can go to

Website->Languages->Text Translations and create general translations of terms. It is recommended that these are short terms that are used throughout the system.

Words like "Website", "Menus", "Pages", etc. Generally, descriptions used in control tables should be in here as they often repeat and can be entered once. Some fields, like description, are tagged in the database as translatable. For these fields, the system will always look for translation of the text of the fields.

Then, go to Website->Languages->Columns. Here, the administrator can identify specific pieces of data that need translation. These translations will override the general translations previously mentioned.

Some recommended table & columns are:

- Detailed Description of Products

- Introduction content of Form Definitions

- Response Content of Form Definitions

- Form label of Form Fields

- Content of Fragments

- Text Data of Page Data - This is the content of pages

Some fields, like Description of Payment Methods (just to use a simple example) will, as described above, use the general translations. However, the administrator might want, without changing the general translation, change specific translations within these descriptions.

Adding them to the columns will allow for this. For example, a description might say "Cash" in English. The general translation of that might be correct, but in the context of a payment method, maybe there is a better translation. The system allows the general, but an override for payment methods. 

Finally, the administrator or staff can enter translations for specific data.

Go to Website->Languages->Foreign Language Text.

This is where translations for specific database columns can be entered. The translation is keyed on the database record, not the English text. So, if the English text is changed, the foreign language text will not be lost or disconnected. The benefit of this is that foreign language translation stays connected even if the English text changes slightly. If there is a big change to the English text, the foreign language text will probably need to change as well.

In the translation page, the system will show what data would get translated using the general Text Translations.