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Conference iosg::all-in-1_v30

Title:*OLD* ALL-IN-1 (tm) Support Conference
Notice:Closed - See Note 4331.l to move to IOSG::ALL-IN-1
Moderator:IOSG::PYE
Created:Thu Jan 30 1992
Last Modified:Tue Jan 23 1996
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:4343
Total number of notes:18308

1527.0. "System folder names not translated" by SHIRE::MAGOUI::SIMMONS (Richard Simmons) Tue Sep 29 1992 17:34

Any suggestions on where to start searching for an answer to this problem :

I have installed ALL-IN-1 v.3.0 US as prime language and 3.0 French as 
secondary language (on a VMS 5.5 system).

The installation apparently went well (no error messages). The IVPs worked.

I have a number of accounts which can choose between English or French 
menus.The problem is the names of system folders INBOX, CREATED, READ and 
OUTBOX which DONT get translated to their corresponding French names.

IE: when I log into ALL-IN-1 with /Language=french, my folders are still
called INBOX, OUTBOX, etc.

Help...
  Thanks
     Richard

T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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1527.1Drawer language?VITARA::REDMONDThoughts of an Idle MindTue Sep 29 1992 17:355
    The language of the MAIN drawer is likely set to ENUS (U.S. English)
    or ENGB (British English).  You'll have to change the drawer's language
    to FR (I think that's the correct code) to have French names used.
    
    Tony
1527.2IOSG::MAURICESee belowTue Sep 29 1992 17:5115
    Hi,
    
    Your folder names do not get translated as you change languages. This
    solved the problem whereby you would have multiple INBOX, WASTEBASKET
    folders etc.
    
    The folder names now are fixed to the drawer language. The drawer
    language is taken from the user's profile language.
    
    So if you create a French user, this user should get the French folder
    names.
    
    Cheers
    
    Stuart
1527.3Folder name is hardcoded in docdbSCOTTC::MARSHALLDo you feel lucky?Tue Sep 29 1992 18:0234
To add to .1 and .2

The language used for folder names depends solely on the drawer's language,
defined in the PARTITION.  It has nothing to do with the language in which you
run ALL-IN-1.

Even if you change the drawer's language name to French, the folder names of
existing documents won't change.  New documents will however be put in folders
with the French names.  If you then change the drawer language back to English,
new documents will be created in the English-name folders, and so on.  Thus you
can end up with two (or more) INBOXes, etc.

You can see from this that if you try and index the READ folder while the drawer
is in English, you won't see any of the documents in the French 'READ' folder,
and vice versa, and so on for the other mail folders...

The reason it works like this is because folders aren't entities in themselves;
the folder name is just an attribute of the document; it's actually part of the
key field in the DOCDB, if you want to get technical.

So to avoid all this confusion, there is no UI to allow you to change the
drawer language.  As Stuart points out, it is taken from the user's profile
language when the drawer is created.  You can change the drawer language at
API level, to fix-up drawers that have the wrong language for some reason,
but you shouldn't try and change it every time the user accesses ALL-IN-1 in
a different language.

This may seem less than perfect, but is a consequence of the way the file
cabinet was designed in the first place, many years ago in a galaxy far away...
It would make upgrade virtually impossible if we were to change the structure
now.  However, there isn't really any perfect solution for a multi-language
system; if one works through all the alternatives they all have problems.

Scott
1527.4Ah...relief.....SHIRE::MAGOUI::SIMMONSRichard SimmonsWed Sep 30 1992 09:5711
Thanks for your answers everyone. I can now go back to my user and 
tell him that its not the system manager's fault !

Nevertheless it is a bit of a pain. I wondered why these system folders didnt 
have a symbolic name (stored in the file cabinet) that would display in the 
language chosen by the user. IE: if in English X=INBOX, if in French 
X=ARRIVE.

 Thks again,
    Richard

1527.5More explanationSCOTTC::MARSHALLDo you feel lucky?Wed Sep 30 1992 10:1931
>> I wondered why these system folders didnt 
>> have a symbolic name (stored in the file cabinet) that would display in the 
>> language chosen by the user. IE: if in English X=INBOX, if in French 
>> X=ARRIVE.

Two reasons (that I can think of at the moment!).  First, the folder name is
literal text in the DOCDB.  It is the literal text that is displayed to the
user, and literal text that is used to search for specific folder names.  Thus
it would be a considerable engineering effort, and a bit of a performance hit,
to change every reference to a folder name between the stored text and the
displayed (or entered) text.

But even if that were done, there is a far bigger problem of usability.  Suppose
I am on an English system.  I have a folder called INBOX.  I create another
folder to store some documents, and I call it ARRIVE, for example.  This is a
perfectly valid English word, and there should be nothing to stop me calling a
folder by that name.  French is then installed on the system.  While using
ALL-IN-1 in French, I try and index my ARRIVE folder; the system says "A-ha, he
really means his INBOX, so I'll index that." and thus I can't accesss my ARRIVE
folder any more.  The other way this could be implemented is that an index of
ARRIVE would show me both the INBOX and the ARRIVE folders, which is just as
bad.  You could probably devise a solution for this specific case, but imagine
a system with three or four languages and folder name conflicts wherever
possible...

Oh, I've just thought of a third reason, perfectly valid but put here somewhat
tongue-in-cheek.  Unless we can prove that making the change would generate
sufficient extra revenue to cover the engineering cost and make a profit, we
wouldn't be allowed to do it.

Scott
1527.6Gimme moreSHIRE::MAGOUI::SIMMONSRichard SimmonsWed Sep 30 1992 10:4410
Ok you win...

I'm happy with the answer anyway - just putting myself in the place of the 
user. By the way, is it true that in former versions the Folder names DID
translate or is the user pulling my leg ?

Thks,
  Richard

PS : How can I change the language field in an existing drawer
1527.8SCOTTC::MARSHALLDo you feel lucky?Wed Sep 30 1992 16:3312
Hi Again,

>> is it true that in former versions the Folder names DID translate

Not to my knowledge.

>> How can I change the language field in an existing drawer

Can't give an exact answer, but as a start:
    WRITE CHANGE PARTITION %KEY="[DRAWER]NAME",fieldmumble="LANGUAGE"

Scott
1527.11Wierd behaviourSHIRE::MAGOUI::SIMMONSRichard SimmonsThu Oct 01 1992 12:5721
The plot thickens...

In one account the INBOX, etc. show up in French or English but with
no apparent logic ! The wierdest behaviour is :

- I start ALL-IN-1 in French
- create a message. It gets put in the CREE folder
- send the message to myself. It gets put in the ENVOYE folder
- read the message. It gets put in the LU folder
- delete the message. It gets put in the WASTEBASKET !!
- I then delete the message from the wastebasket which gets put in 
  the CORBEILLE !

Moreover, it is not possible to fill in the LANGUAGE field when creating
a user account (only possible with EDIT afterwards). Even if I put French
in the language field the MAIN drawer still shows up in English.

Help...
  Richard


1527.12SCOTTC::MARSHALLDo you feel lucky?Thu Oct 01 1992 13:4518
Hi,

I expect the weird behaviour is because some places from which you can do
"Delete" correctly use the drawer language to get the wastebasket folder name,
whereas others incorrectly just use the untranslated (ie English) name.  If you
can find specific places, please post them here.

Such incorrect (ie missing) translation probably also explains why in some
places folder names are in French, and in other places they are in English.
Can you see if this is indeed the case, rather than it being just random
behaviour?

I'm not sure whether this is a problem in the base system or in the translated
versions.  If ou can find specific places it might help determine this.

Your second comment about LANGUAGE and CREATE USER sounds like a bug.

Scott
1527.13template?IOSG::TYLDESLEYThu Oct 01 1992 14:089
>>  Moreover, it is not possible to fill in the LANGUAGE field when creating
>>  a user account (only possible with EDIT afterwards).. 
  -----
    Are you sure? You change the LANGUAGE field on the account template
    used.
    
    Cheers,
    DaveT