Language switching

Language switching allows operators to view user-defined text strings in an application in up to 40 different languages. At runtime, a FactoryTalk View SE Client can switch between any of the languages the application supports. In a network distributed application, multiple clients can also run in different languages at the same time.
TIP:
  • The caption on an SE button object does not automatically wrap to a new line when the text extends beyond the width of the button.
  • If a Text object has its
    Size to Fit
     property set to
    True
    , the object's size might vary for different languages.
When you create an application you select a language in the
New/Open Site Edition Application
 dialog box. This becomes the default language for the application. To set up language switching for the application, make sure that all languages relevant to the application are added to it, and then export the application's user-defined text strings, translate the strings, and import the translated strings back into the application.
TIP:
  • If you are using FactoryTalk Security to secure applications at design time, to import or export strings in local or network distributed applications you must have
    Common/Read
     and
    Common/Write
     security permissions for the application or area the operation is being carried out on.
  • If you are translating exported text strings, see Chapter 12 in the
    FactoryTalk View Site Edition User's Guide
    , for format and file schema information that describes which parts of the text file should be translated and which parts must remain the way they were when exported. This is necessary to ensure that the file will be imported correctly into the application.
  • Do not attempt to import a multi-line text string for a property that supports only a single line string, such as the
    TooltipText
     property. If you do this, the new line or carriage return character (\n), will be displayed as unreadable characters.
In general, the user-defined strings that support language switching are those that an operator sees in an application at runtime. Specifically, these are:
  • text you specify for graphic objects and global objects including captions, tool tip text, time and date embedded variables, local messages, and numeric embedded variables.
  • graphic and global object display titles specified in the
    Display Settings
     dialog box.
Among the text strings that
do not
 support language switching are:
  • text that is part of the graphical user interface of FactoryTalk View Studio or View SE Client software, such as menus, which is displayed in the same language as the operating system. These are translated when FactoryTalk View is localized.
  • text that can be displayed at runtime but is used to operate the application, such as the names of graphic displays and command strings.
  • tag descriptions and string constants in expressions.
  • text in the title bar of the FactoryTalk View SE Client window, which is part of the setup of the client, not part of the application.
The strings can be exported to one tag-delimited Unicode text file per language, or one Excel file for all languages.
  • A Unicode text file contains the strings for a single language from one HMI server. You can import multiple Unicode files into an application in one operation.
    The default name for the Unicode file exported from a local station application is
    <application name>_<server name>_<RFC1766 identifier>
    .txt.
    The default name for a Unicode file exported from a network distributed application is
    <application name>_<area name>_<server name>_<RFC1766 identifier>
    .txt.
    For example,
    Brewery_Lager_Mixer1_en-US.txt
     would be the default file name for strings exported from the HMI server
    Mixer1
    , in the Lager area of an application named
    Brewery
    , with U.S. English selected at the time of export.
  • An Excel file contains the strings for all languages listed in the Language Configuration dialog box, from all of the application's HMI servers.
    The default name for the Excel file exported from an application is
    <application name>_<export version number>
    .xls.
    The first time you export strings to Excel from an application, the export version number is 1. For subsequent exports for the same application, the export version number is increased by 1.
    In a multi-language application, when you export text strings to Excel, there will be a set of columns in the Excel spreadsheet for each language that has been added to the application. If you do not want the strings translated for all languages, simply delete those columns.
    Excel spreadsheets have a theoretical limit of 1024 characters that can be displayed, which can be less depending on the font of the characters and the display characteristics. If any single item in an application's exported text exceeds this limit, the cell for that text will appear blank in the exported spreadsheet. For more information, see Excel specifications and limits.
    For instructions on how to open a text file in Microsoft Excel, see Chapter 12 in the
    FactoryTalk View Site Edition User's Guide
    .
FactoryTalk View applications support the extended tag properties of Logix Designer controllers. When deploying multi-language applications, avoid referencing the string type extended properties in the
SET
and
=
commands, including
.@Description
,
.@EngineeringUnit
,
.@State0
, and
.@State1
. Otherwise, it may cause unexpected results when you switch languages. For more information about using the controller tag extended properties, see Chapter 10 in the
FactoryTalk View Site Edition User's Guide
.
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