Configuring the List of Available Languages

You can set a preferred language for a user of the user management engine (UME). The preferred language identifies the Java locale to associate with the user when the user is logged in. Applications can then use the Java locale to present information to this user based on the user's preferred Java locale. For example, the application can display its user interface in the language preferred by the user.

You change the language of a user account in the following applications:

• Portal personalization

  In the portal, choose Personalize → User Profile.

• Identity management application of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server (AS) Java.

  When you create or edit a user, you can choose a language. Users can choose their own preferred language if you enable self-management.

• Self-registration

  When users register themselves as new users, they can choose a language for their user account.

The default list of languages is long with well over 100 different Java locales. You can modify the list of available languages that appears in the user profile of the UME. Reasons to change the languages available include the following:

• Your application does not support that many languages.
• Local governments can require you to support specific Java locales for minority language groups.
  Note  

  You can change the list of available languages, but that does not guarantee that an application can display its user interface in that language. For example, the identity management application of the AS Java supports a limited subset of the available languages. You cannot customize the user interface to support more. You can; however, create your own identity management application with the UME APIs and support your own set of languages.

Configure the required UME properties.

For more information about editing UME properties, see Editing UME Properties .

The required UME property is ume.admin.wd.locales . By default this property is empty, meaning the UME supports a hard-coded list of Java locales. Enter the Java locales in a comma-separated list. Only the locales you enter are available for selection. The Java locales consist of the ISO 639-1 language code and an optional ISO 3166 country code separated by an underscore ( _ ).

The system resolves these codes into a display name. For example, en_CA resolves as English (Canada). If the locale is not supported by the Java runtime, the system displays the code as you entered it.

For more information about the Java class locale , see the API specification at java.sun.com/reference/api . The class is part of the package java.util .

David Grecco works for a community in Quebec, Canada, where he offers a multilingual portal providing community services. He cannot afford to translate the applications for all the languages spoken by his community. He researches the market and identifies the top three languages spoken: French, English, and Chinese (Hong Kong). He then sets the property ume.admin.wd.locales= en_CA, fr_CA, zh_HK . When residents register with the portal they can choose among these three languages instead of being faced with a long list of languages, some of which are not supported by his applications. Later, David can decide to add support for Cree and add cr to the property.

Configuring Self-Management

Configuring Self-Registration