20 Translating Portal Content

20.1.1 Selecting a Session Language

The session language is the language in use in your current portal session. Where you select a session language depends on how your portal is set up. In some installations, you can specify a session language when you log in to your portal. You can add a language parameter to the URL, for example:

http://<host>:<port>/portal/page/<dad>/lang-<language>/<page_guid>

A URL to a French translation would look like the following:

http://mymachine.mycompany.com:5000/portal/page/mydad/lang-fr/
A47D41ECA23648A9E030007F0100118A

In all installations, you can use the Set Language portlet to select a session language and to switch between languages during the current session.

You can add the Set Language portlet to any page on which you have manage or personalization privileges. Note that the Set Language portlet displays all languages that are available in the portal, not just the languages that are enabled in the current page group.

For information about adding a portlet to a page, see Section 16.1, "Adding a Portlet to a Page". For information about the Set Language portlet, see Section A.5.5, "Working with the Set Language Portlet".

20.1.2 Displaying a Translation

The translation of an object displays automatically when the session language matches the language of the translation.

The rules for displaying translations include:

• If the default language is selected for the user session, then no translations are displayed.

• If a language other than the default language is selected, and a translation of an object exists for that language, then the translation is displayed.

• If a language other than the default language is selected, and no translation exists for an object, the default language instance of the object is displayed.

These rules are illustrated in Table 20-1.

The same rules apply to searches that use the built-in OracleAS Portal search feature: Search results include only content that has been translated into the current session language. Oracle Ultra Search behaves differently: It returns content only in the portal's default language.

20.1.3 Translation and Attributes

When an item is translated, some of its attribute values can be translated and some cannot. This section lists and describes portal objects and their translatable attributes and discusses the rules surrounding attributes and translations. It includes the following subsections:

• Translatable Attributes

• Non-Translatable Attributes

• Translating Attributes

20.2.1 Planning for Translations

This section provides information that is useful to know when you are planning one or more translated versions of your portal. It includes the following subsections:

• Installing Languages

• Choosing a Default Language

• What Must Be Translated?

• Translation, Names, and Display Names

• Adding Content in a Language Other than the Default Language

• Translations and the Shared Objects Page Group

20.2.2 Adding Translation Languages to a Page Group

When a page group is created, it is available in a single default language (specified at creation time). You can subsequently create translations of the page group. Once a translation is created, content contributors can easily add content to a page group in the translation language. When users choose to view the portal in the translation—for example, by selecting the translation language in the Set Language portlet—they see the translated content.

To add a translation language to a page group:

1. Log in to OracleAS Portal.

2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

3. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the page group for which to configure a translation.

   By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

4. Click the Configure link.

5. Click the Translations tab to bring it forward.

6. From the Language list, choose the translation language.

   This list includes the languages for which translations have not yet been created, but whose application messages have been installed and made available for user data translation.

7. Select the Online check box to make the language accessible to all users.

   If you do not select Online, the language is accessible only to users with the page group privilege Manage All.

8. Click Apply after each selection before adding a new language.

9. Click Create.

10. Click OK.

20.2.3 Making a Translation Available to All Users

When you first create a translation, the translation is available only to users with the page group privilege Manage All. You can edit a translation's status setting to make it available to all users.

To change the status of a translation:

1. Log in to OracleAS Portal.

2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

3. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the relevant page group.

   By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

4. Click the Configure link.

5. Click the Translations tab to bring it forward.

6. Under the Edit Translation section, select Online to make the translation available to all users.

   If you do not select Online, the translation is available only to users with the page group privilege Manage All.

7. Click Apply before changing the status of another language.

8. Click OK.

20.2.4 Deleting a Page Group Translation

Deleting a translation deletes all the content in the page group for the translation language. You cannot delete the page group's default language (that is, the language specified when the page group was created) unless you delete the entire page group (including all its translations).

To delete a translation from a page group:

1. Log in to OracleAS Portal.

2. Click the Build tab to bring it forward.

3. From the Page Groups portlet Work In drop-down list, select the page group that owns the translation to be deleted.

   By default, the Page Groups portlet is located on the Build tab of the Portal Builder page.

4. Click the Configure link.

5. Click the Translations tab to bring it forward.

6. Click the Delete icon next to the translation to be deleted.

7. Click OK.

20.3.1 Adding a Translated Item

If your portal is configured to display in more than one language, then it is likely you will be adding content to it in each language it uses. A large part of a portal translation is taken care of automatically: all the standard user interface elements, including their labels and hint text are automatically translated; all intrinsic messages are automatically translated. But the content you provide, including item content and any attribute values you enter manually, must be translated by you. Once you have translated the content, the rest is easy.

To provide a translated version of content:

1. Log in to OracleAS Portal.

2. Go to the Set Language portlet, and select the language under which you will add an item translation.

   It may be necessary to ask your page group administrator to make this portlet available to you. It is located under Portal Content Tools in the Portlet Repository.

3. Go to the page on which to provide an item translation.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 9.1, "Locating Pages in OracleAS Portal".

4. Click the (translated) Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

5. Click the Edit Item icon next to the relevant item (Figure 20-1).

   Figure 20-1 Edit Item Icon

   
   

6. Upload the translated content, enter translated text, or otherwise provide the content translation for the item, and enter translated values for any translatable item attributes.

   At this point, providing translated content is the same as editing the specific type of item on an untranslated page. For information on how to add an item, see Section 15.2, "Adding Items to a Page".

   A variation on this task occurs when item versioning is enabled and multiple language versions plus the latest default language version of an item are available. In such a case, you are given the opportunity to select an item version from which to copy attribute values. For more information, see Section 20.3.3, "Copying Translatable Attributes".

The original item displays in your portal's default language, as usual. The translated version displays when you select the translation language from the Set Language portlet.

In the translated view of the page, any content that has not been translated into the selected language is displayed in the default language. (For more information, see Section 20.1.2, "Displaying a Translation".)

20.3.2 Translations and Item Versioning

The implicit behavior of translation creation also applies when you use item versioning. When you create a new version of an item, a new record is added to the portal schema in the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository. All versions of an item have the same Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) but each version is assigned a new ID attribute value. A Current Version attribute indicates which version is active. For example:

When you switch to French and edit the current version, a French record is implicitly created for Version 2. Notice that no translation exists for Version 1 and that both the English and French records for Version 2 have the same ID:

With the language still set to French, create a new version (3). An English (default language) record is implicitly created for Version 3, with attribute values copied from the English record for Version 2:

Switch back to English, and create a new version (4):

Notice that no translation is created for Version 4. Therefore, when version 4 is the current version, no translation is displayed. This may cause users to think that their translations have disappeared. Translations for version 4 must be manually created by editing version 4 in the nondefault language(s).

For more information, see Section 20.3.3, "Copying Translatable Attributes"

20.3.3 Copying Translatable Attributes

When you translate an item in a page group where item versioning is enabled, you have the opportunity to copy the attributes of any earlier translation or the latest default-language version and apply them to the new translation of the item. Use the Available Translations section in the Edit Item wizard to select the item version from which to copy attributes.

For translated items, you can view and edit only translatable item attributes. The non-translatable attributes do not display on the Item Attributes screen (see Section 20.1.3, "Translation and Attributes"). However, you can view the non-translatable attributes by clicking the Properties icon (Figure 20-2) in the banner at the top of the Edit Item screen.

To change non-translatable attributes, you must set the portal to its default language view and edit the item there. Whatever changes you make to non-translatable attributes are made automatically across all translations of the item.

The Available Translations section displays on the Item Attributes page under the following conditions:

• The page group has at least one available translation

• Item versioning is set to Simple or Audit for the page group or the current page

• The item's status is neither Pending nor Draft

• You are working in a language other than the default language

• The default-language version of the item is more recent than the translated version

For example, imagine that versioning is enabled, English is the default language, and you have the following versions:

• V1: English

• V2: English, French

• V3: English, French, German

• V4: English, French, German

• V5: English

• V6: English, French

• V7: English (latest default-language version)

When you add a new French version, the Available Translations option displays on the Item Attributes screen in place of the default Item Version Control section. The Available Translations section includes a drop-down list of available versions. The drop-down list includes V7: English, as the latest default-language version, as well as all the French versions of the item (V2, V3, V4, V6).

When you add a new German version, the Available Translations option displays with a selection list that includes V7: English, as the latest default-language version as well as all the German versions of the item (V3 and V4).

If the latest French or German version you are updating is V7, this dialog does not display.

By default, the latest version of an item always displays. If you update a default-language version of an item, but do not update the translated version of the item, the default-language version displays in the translated version of the portal. Your options are:

• Leave this "as is"

• Add a translated version at the same level as the most recent default-language version

• Select an earlier translated version for display from the Item Actions screen. See Section 15.12, "Using Item Version Control".

To select a version for translation:

1. Log in to OracleAS Portal.

2. Go to the page that contains the item for which to provide a new translation.

   For information on locating a page through the Page Groups portlet, see Section 9.1, "Locating Pages in OracleAS Portal".

3. Click the Edit link at the top of the page.

   This opens the page in Edit mode.

4. Click the Edit Item icon beside the relevant item (Figure 20-3).

   Figure 20-3 The Edit Item Icon

   
   

5. From the Copy From drop-down list in the Available Translations section, select the version of the item from which to copy attribute values.

   
   

   Note: If you make changes to item attributes, then select a different version from the Copy From drop-down list, any changes made to item attributes on the Edit Item screen are lost. Once you click Go, the Item Attributes screen repopulates with the attribute values of the newly-selected version. Select a version from Available Translations and click Go before you change any item attribute values.

   
   

6. Click Go.

7. Click OK to confirm your selection, copy the selected version's attributes, and return to the Item Attributes screen.

20.3.4 Translations and Approvals

Translations of items can be submitted to an approval process when they are created or edited. To properly review and approve content for a pending translation, approvers must always set their session language to the same language as the translation.

For example, a user with the page (or tab) privilege Manage Items With Approval creates a French translation of an item and submits it for approval. The French display name of the item appears in the approver's Notifications portlet, even when the approver's session language is set to English. Approvers can approve or reject the item independent of what their session language is set to. However, if they are to either preview the changes or edit the translation's attributes, they must first switch their session language to French.

To properly preview and approve content for a pending translation, approvers must always set their session language to the same language as the translation.

The same rules apply when an approver edits a pending item. If an approver has the required edit privilege on a pending item, he or she can edit the item without disrupting the approval process. However, if the item is in a language other than the default language, it can be edited only in that language. In other words, assuming the page group's default language is English, when a French translation displays in the approver's queue, the approver cannot edit the translated item while the session language is set to English. The approver can edit the translated item only by first setting the session language to French (provided the approver has the privileges required to edit the item).

For information on which users can view items in what state, see Section 18.9.3, "Item URL Security".

20.3.5 Translations and Object Deletion

Deleting an object from a page group deletes all translations of the object. This includes the deletion of all attribute values associated with the object. For example, imagine that you have a page group with a default language of English and a translation in French. If you delete the French translation of a category, the English category is also deleted, as are all the attribute values associated with the category, such as its Title Image, Rollover Image, and Icon. All objects classified under the deleted category are reclassified under the General category.