Set the Store Main Language

SAP POS provides a base set of languages for the application components at installation. These run under country-specific Windows operating systems that support regional settings and standard keyboards typically used in each country.

You can define or modify the main language of a store by setting the language option in the relevant *.ini file. The following table shows the *.ini files associated with each application. These are set during the installation process however you can modify the default setting, add a language, or switch the main store language by changing the values of these options.

Note Note

The Russian language uses a different Windows code page than Latin languages so you cannot change the main language to Russian from a language that does not use the same code page as Russian. The code page is loaded at installation time based on language information provided by the customer at installation.

End of the note.

SAP POS application	Name of *.ini file	Where the *.ini file is located
POS and Xpress Server	lang.ini	\Program Files\SAP\Retail Systems\Xpress Server\parm directory
Store Manager	bkoff.ini	\Program Files\SAP\Retail Systems\Store Manager
Configurator	poscfgw.ini	\Program Files\SAP\Retail Systems\Store Configurator
Electronic Journal View	journal.ini	\Program Files\SAP\Retail Systems\Sales Journal Viewer

Caution Caution

If the lang.ini file is not found in the required directory, the POS and Xpress Server applications will not support any of the multiple language features.

End of the caution.

POS and Xpress Server— For the POS and Xpress Server applications, the language parameter is located in a section of the lang.ini file called Language of the Store as shown in the following example. Here you can find a list of all the translated languages that are available in the system and ensure that the main language parameter is set as required. You can add additional languages and their ISO codes to this list as they become available.

Example of the Language setting in lang.ini:

#Language of the Store:

#ENGLISH=ENG

#FRENCH=FRE

#SPANISH=SPA

#GERMAN=GER

#ITALIAN=ITA

#RUSSIAN=RUS

DEFAULTLANGUAGE=GER
Store Manager— The Store Manager application does not provide maintenance screens in the front end to maintain the language of the store. Language information is downloaded from the Configurator application. You can use the BACKOFF.INI file to set a reference for the store language.

The language parameter is located in a section of the backoff.ini file called Application and can be set as shown in the following example:

Example of the Language setting in backoff.ini:

#Application

Language=GER
Configurator— The Xpress Languages screen in the front end application shows all the available languages installed with the application and allows you to designate or modify a language as the main store language by making sure that it is defined as ID #1 and that it appears at the top of the list. You can also make recently translated languages available to the system by adding them to this list.
Note
The parameter file produced by the language records in the Xpress Languages screen is called LANGUAGE.ASC.
End of the note.
The language parameter in the back end poscfgw.ini file is located in the Application section and can be set as shown in the following example:

Example of the Language setting in poscfgw.ini:

#Application

Language=GER
Electronic Journal Viewer— Language support for the Electronic Journal Viewer application is defined in the journal.ini file. The language key is located in the Application section of the file. This attribute is defined during installation.

Example of the language setting in journal.ini:

#Application

Language=GER

The Electronic Journal Viewer does not support changing an employee’s language because no active employee database is maintained for this application. When you launch the journal viewer application from the command line: JOURNAL.EXE or EJP.EXE, the language set in the JOURNAL.INI file is displayed. When the Electronic Journal Viewer is launched from within the Store Manager application, the language of the employee who is currently signed on to the Store Manager application overrides the store language. In this way, the active language of the employee is temporarily transferred to the Electronic Journal Viewer.

Texts in the journal files are not translated by the Electronic Journal Viewer. They are displayed in the language they were captured in the POS. Only text labels, literals, and messages are translated.

A Translation maintenance window is available in the Electronic Journal Viewer that allows application object texts, literal files, and messages to be translated. Since there is no database available in the Electronic Journal Viewer, the user must select the language for the translation from within the translation window. Access to the window is also controlled by settings in the journal.ini file.

The Electronic Journal Viewer provides translations for any language that has been formally translated and uploaded to the SAP POS system. There are no additional maintenance windows to define the languages of the application.