Translation Workbench

> Administration > Account Management > Translation Workbench

The Translation Workbench makes it possible to deliver an application in one or more of the languages supported by the platform, by mapping words and phrases defined in custom platform elements to a different language.

About the Translation Workbench

By default, the platform user interface (UI) is labeled in English. In order to make the platform more usable for a global audience, these Eligible Platform Elements can be customized with language labels. These configurable platform elements are presented in a language that is more familiar to users, which improves their effectiveness. Any of the Supported Languages can be selected. The Audit Log will reflect language translation, if it has been implemented.

Users that have the Manage Translation Workbench permission can View, Import or Export the translation tables.

Although generally intended for localization of Custom Objects, the translation workbench can also be used to modify the labels associated with System Objects.

Developers can specify Java-style i18n labels and default values for Custom Labels.

Multiple languages can be enabled for a single platform tenancy. Individual users can select a default from the list of available languages.

Learn more: Language Translation

Load the Translation Workbench

In order to enable Multiple Language Translation, language labels must first be loaded to the Translation Workbench. Two methods are available to load the Translation Workbench:

Manual Edit

Use this option to change language labels individually

Import and Export

Use this option for mass changes to language labels

Manual Edit

To edit individual language translations:

1. Click > Administration > Account Management > Translation Workbench
2. Use the following options to navigate to the element of interest:

   Language

   Choose one of the available languages from the list.
   (The choices are determined by the Company Information settings.)

   Elements

   Choose one of the Eligible Platform Elements for editing

   Type and Subtype:Optional, and are not presented with every Language + Element combination

3. Click the [Edit] button
4. Manually edit the Translated Display Label
5. Click [Save]

Import and Export

To create a new language translation file in CSV format, follow this procedure:

Step 1: Export an existing language set.

Step 2: Change the language-designation for each entry in the file.

Step 3: Add the translated entries into the file using an external translation system.

Step 4: Re-Import the resulting file to create a new language option.

Considerations

• Translation Id is unique to each tenancy
• The import will fail if:

• The order of the fields in the CSV file is changed
• The Translation Id field is changed

• Objects have two records in the translation export file, where Item Type is Object Singular Label and Object Plural Label

Export Translation Entries

To export an existing language to a file:

1. Click > Administration > Account Management > Translation Workbench
2. Click the [Export Translation Entries] button
3. In the Translation Information section, select:

   Language

   Choose the language to export

4. In the Email Address Section, select:

   Email address

   Enter an email address

   A link to the CSV file is sent to this email address.

The contents of the CSV file can be translated to any desired language. It contains the labels for all Eligible Platform Elements.

Change Language Designation

A typical language translation files can contain thousands of records. Here is part of one exported from the platform:

<syntaxhighlight lang="text" enclose="div"> Translation Id,Language,Item Type,Additional Info,Base Label,Translated Label 11eb24840b494736933dfea6ed13b50a,en,Object Singular Label,,Account,, 11eb24840b494736933dfea6ed13b50a,en,Object Plural Label,,Accounts,, 60ed42521fd54de5a24d294ee8494db9,en,Object Plural Label,,Active Employees,, 5f13c0b09d93427eb073a38c31146f68,en,Object Plural Label,,Benefits,, 443eeb61c2cf4e6da297bf80b09a5c2a,en,Object Plural Label,,Cases,, 58f403513d8d40bb9f0190cb0974add5,en,Object Singular Label,,Company,, 11ee93bca9f649ceadbee7a66ec163d4,en,Object Singular Label,,Compensation,, c3d33c48ba104eefa2d56ae45f39c667,en,Object Plural Label,,Contacts,, fa2d4a8bc6e24d4f8a3c6d2bcfcb6c1c,en,Section,Object:Contacts,Layout Name:Default Layout,Contact Information,, da7d3db7e078419ebc583a1a4f061ea0,en,Section,Object:Contacts,Layout Name:Default Layout,Description Section,, . . . </syntaxhighlight>

Note that the language-designation for each entry is "en" (English). When translating the language into Spanish, for example, you would do a search/replace to change each instance of ",en," to ",es,". (Adding the commas ensures that you don't make an unintended change.)

Import Translation Entries

To import the translation entries file:

1. Click > Administration > Account Management > Translation Workbench
2. Click the [Import Translation Entries] button, and complete the following information:

   Language

   Specify the language to import

   Select the file to load

   Click the [Browse] button to navigate to the file

3. Click [Save]

About Elements in the Translation Workbench

Each language translation file contains these elements:

• Language

• English (Default)
• Other languages, as available

• Element

• Type (of Element)

• Subtype (of Element)

Eligible Platform Elements

To view translation entries, you choose Language, Element, type, and subtype, where the type and subtype options depend on the Element.

For each item, the following information is shown:

• Name
• Elements (Optional)
• Default Display Label
• Translated Display Label
• Default Display Label (Plural), Translated Display Label (Plural) (Optional)

Types and Subtypes

Element	Type, Subtype
Actions	Objects
Applications
Custom Labels	Category Category Name
Enumerated Fields	Objects
Fields	Objects
Forms	Objects Sections Quick Links Related Information Related Information Button Labels
Global Picklists	Global Picklist
Home Pages	Applications Label Widget Title Pages
Objects
Report Folders
Reports
Sidebar	Label Widget Title Sidebars
Validation	Objects
Views	View Type Object Related Views Objects Other Views
Web Tabs	Label Widget Title Sidebars

Custom Labels

Custom Labels provide the the ability to create free-form messages, or alphanumeric text strings in:

• Onscreen help or tips
• Alert messages
• Warning messages

The custom labels are added via the Translation Workbench, and are used in these elements in the platform:

• Pages
• Classes
• Custom Form Actions
• Java API: showMessage, throwError
• JavaScript validation messages
• Web Tabs

To add custom labels:

1. Click > Administration > Account Management > Translation Workbench
2. Specify the following information:

   Language

   Select the desired language

   Elements

   Custom Labels

   Category

   --New Category--

   Category Name

   Enter a name for the category

3. Click the [New Category] button
4. In the form that appears, enter the token and the Translated Custom Message
   • A maximum of 100 tokens can be created for each Category
5. Click [Save]

Custom Labels For Developers

Accessing a Custom Label in JAVA

The translateToken API accesses a Custom Label (a message) defined in the Translation Workbench.

Syntax

<syntaxhighlight lang="java" enclose="div">

String result = Functions.translateToken(String key) String result = Functions.translateToken(String key, String [] args) </syntaxhighlight>

Parameters

key

The category and token (index key) for the message to retrieve, in the form: "#category.token_name".

args

An array of string-arguments to be substituted into the message, in the locations defined by the message format.

Returns

A string containing the selected message in the user's currently active language, with specified arguments substituted.

Example

In this example, go_msg is a Custom Label in the Translation Workbench created in the "custom" category, where the translation in the user's current language is "It's a {1} day for a {2}." Supplying the arguments then allows for variations on the message.

<syntaxhighlight lang="java" enclose="div">

String [] args = {"nice", "walk"}; String msg = Functions.translateToken("#custom.go_msg", args));

   // ==> "It's a nice day for a walk."

</syntaxhighlight>

Accessing a Custom Label in HTML

In HTML:

• The category and tokens defined in Custom Labels are used to construct a key.
• The key and related arguments are passed to a Message Tag, which returns a localized message.

Creating a Key

To access a Custom Label in HTML, you create a key, using the same format as Template Variables:

A category name, followed by '.' and a message or label identifier (a "token").
Example: #categoryname.tokenname

where

categoryname

Name of the Category

tokenname

Name of the Token

Example

For a category named webtab, create the following tokens:

welcome_msg = Welcome to the {0}

message = This application keeps track of your customer service requests quickly and easily

To create language labels using the custom label key, add arguments as follows:

{#webtab.welcome_msg^ABC}

Which displays in the UI as: Welcome to the ABC

Considerations

• The carat (^) character is used to separate arguments passed to the function
• If the argument is missing ({#webtab.message}), the default message is displayed: This application keeps track of your customer service requests quickly and easily.
• Tokens are supported in:

• Web Tabs, using:

• HTML
• Raw HTML

Example

<html>
  <head>
    <title></title>
  </head>

  <body>

    <h1>{#webtab.welcom_msg^ABC}</h1>

    <p>{#webtab.messge}</p>
   
  </body>
</html>

Using Message Tags

Message Tags support multiple languages, using Custom Labels created in the Translation Workbench.

• When a message tag is implemented, the message appears in the user's selected language.
• Message tags are part of the platform Tag library

• The platform Tag Library is a Java Custom Tag Library

• If the key is not defined in the Translation Workbench, the key defined in the call will be displayed.

Syntax

<syntaxhighlight lang="java" enclose="div">

<%@ taglib uri="/LJTagLib" prefix="lj" %> <lj:message key="#{category}.{token}" arg1="Julia" arg2="Jones"/> </syntaxhighlight >

Example

Assume the following item is specified in the Translation Workbench:

Category	webtab
Token	message
Message	Requester Name: {1}, {0}

Then this code:

<syntaxhighlight lang="java" enclose="div">

<%@ taglib uri="/LJTagLib" prefix="lj" %> <html>

   <head>
       <title>Customer Details</title>
   </head>
   <body>

Customer Details

All the details

       <lj:message key="#webtab.message" arg1="Julia" arg2="Jones"/> 
   </body>

</html> </syntaxhighlight >

Causes this text to be inserted into the HTML:

Requester Name: Jones, Julia