Localizing Forums 

Use

In international enterprises, you can localize forums by customizing the locale settings within a forums application. Localizing a forum means to define the following elements:

●      Locale-specific text sets for the user interface

User interface texts (button texts, column headers, messages, etc.) are stored in files called resource bundles, which contain pairs of keys and values. The default theme uses the keys to load the text based on the configured locale settings (English values are used for English locales, French values for French locales, and so on)

The default resource bundle is stored in the file named jive_forums_i18n.properties, translated versions are stored in files named jive_forums_i18n_XX.properties (XX = language ID). 

●      Date and time format defined in the resource bundle corresponding to the language

●      Character set (e.g. Unicode or Western languages or others)

●      Time zone

How the System Identifies the Valid Locale

If no locale is defined in the forums application and the user has no locale, the application uses the locale of the engine (J2EE). If a global locale is defined in the forums application, this overwrites the J2EE locale. You can assign a specific locale on category or forum level. Generally, the application identifies the valid locale in the following order (starting with the highest priority):

·            ...

...

●      Forum

If a specific locale is assigned to the forum, this locale overrides the user’s locale and the locale inherited from the parent category. All pages associated with the forum use this locale.
If the system cannot find a forum-specific locale, it determines the category’s locale.

●      Category

If a specific locale is assigned to the category, all its sub-categories and their related forums – which have no specific locale – inherit the category’s locale. This locale can be changed on sub-category or forum level.
If the system cannot find a category-specific locale it determines the user’s locale.   

●      User

The user’s locale is determined from the following settings (in the order below):

○       Language set for the user in the UME (the portal’s User Management Engine)

○       Global locale defined in the Admin Console

○       Locale of the J2EE

○       Default locale (normally English)

Procedure

Defining the Global Locale

The global locale is valid, if neither the forum nor its parent-categories nor the user have a specific locale.

·            ...

...

       1.      From the Admin Console, choose the Settings tab.

       2.      In the left-hand navigation pane, under Global Settings, choose Locale Settings.

       3.      Edit the global locale, the time zone and the character encoding.

       4.      Save the settings.

Assigning a Specific Locale on Creating a Category or Forum

On creating a category or a forum, you can assign a specific locale. The specific locale overwrites the user’s locale and the locale inherited from the parent category.

More information:

Categorizing Forums

Managing Forums

Changing a Category’s Locale

·            ...

...

       1.      From the Admin Console, choose the Content tab.

       2.      Open the category for editing.

       3.      Select another locale and save.

Changing a Forum’s Locale

·            ...

...

       1.      From the Admin Console, choose the Content tab.

       2.      Open the forum for editing.

       3.      On the Forum Settings page, below the General Information tab, choose Edit.

       4.      Select another locale and save.