Multilingual portals

General

Each Intrexx portal can be created in multiple languages.

The language and region are represented by ISO-639 and ISO-3166 codes (e.g. en-us for English (United States of America) or en-gb for English (United Kingdom). These codes are the basis for controlling languages in portals.

Multilingualism means not only the language-dependent display of texts, but also the display of numerical and date values in the respective country. Even colors can be interpreted differently depending on the culture. Graphics with lettering also get a language-dependent aspect. Even the question whether the user reads from left to right or vice versa can play a role.

There are therefore various details that need to be considered and implemented when creating a multilingual portal - regardless of which technology is used. You will find what you need to know for this here.

Language switch in the browser

The additional control "Language switcher" from the "Design" module is used for language switching in the browser. The selectable languages must be activated in the country settings.

The additional Locale switch control from the "Design" module is used to switch to a different format, e.g. to display the date in the appropriate format. The selectable formats must be activated in the country settings.

Portal properties - Regional settings

You will find the country settings in the portal properties, which you can access in the main "Portal" menu. The portal can be configured for international use here.

Format

Different formats for displaying date and number values are used across the world. To provide portal users with the option to use formats that correspond with their region, so-called formats can be defined.

Available locations

This list shows all of the formats that can be selected.

Selected locations

This list shows all of the formats that have been activated for this portal.

Select / Deselect formats

The marked formats can be moved to the other list using the arrow buttons.

Default setting

Select which language should be used for the default setting in the drop-down list beneath the languages.

Edit formats for the selected location

Opens a dialog where the date and number format for the currently selected location can be edited.

Date format

Normal / Brief / Long

There are three options for displaying the date in the browser: ""Normal"", ""Brief"" and ""Long"". The patterns of the Java SimpleDateFormat can be used to define the format.

Example

A preview of the formatted date will be shown in each of the example fields.

Weeks starts with

Set the day on which the week begins here.

Legend

Informs you about the meaning of the abbreviations used in the "Normal", "Short" and "Long" fields.

Reset format settings

Resets all format settings back to the default settings for the selected locale.

Time format

Time format

The format for displaying the time in the browser can be defined here using the patterns of the Java SimpleDateFormat.

Example

A preview of the formatted time is shown here.

Legend

Provides an explanation of the abbreviations used in the ""Time format"" field.

Reset format settings

Resets all format settings back to the default settings for the selected locale.

Number format - Integer fields

Thousands separator

Select a character of your choice that should be used to separate 1000s in the browser.

Example

A preview of the formatted integer is shown here.

Reset format settings

Resets all format settings back to the default settings for the selected locale.

Number format - Number fields

Thousands separator

Select a character of your choice that should be used to separate 1000s in the browser.

Decimal separator

Select a character that should be used as a decimal point in front of the decimal places.

Leading zero

Here, define whether a leading zero should be shown or not.

Decimal places

Define how many decimal places should be shown here.

Example

A preview of the formatted number is shown here.

Reset format settings

Resets all format settings back to the default settings for the selected locale.

Number format - Currency fields

Thousands separator

Select a character of your choice that should be used to separate 1000s in the browser.

Decimal separator

Select a character that should be used as a decimal point in front of the decimal places.

Leading zero

Here, define whether a leading zero should be shown or not.

Decimal places

Define how many decimal places should be shown here.

Example

A preview of the formatted number is shown here.

Reset format settings

Resets all format settings back to the default settings for the selected locale.

Time zone

A time zone can be assigned to the portal here. Usually, this is the time zone of the server or the company headquarters. If the portal users work in different time zones, the respective time zone can be assigned to the individual users in the "Users" module in the user properties. The time zone set in the portal properties is used if no individual time zone is entered for a user.

In Intrexx, every date value is stored in UTC Universal Time Coordinated (GMT Greenwich Mean Time) in the database. When the time is shown in the browser, the difference of the current time zone will be added or taken away from the UTC. The database obtains the time zone setting from the operating system. The time zone of the Intrexx Portal Server and the database should be identical as a general rule. If the database time zone and Intrexx time zone differ, there may be deviations in the calculation of the local time.

In case of doubt, date values such as the date of birth, which must not be changed, should be saved as text information and, if necessary, prepared for display (formatting) using Velocity.

Languages

Any number of languages can be activated for your portal.

Country-specific languages

With this setting, localized languages such as "German (Switzerland)" can be used. When you click on "OK", the global language constants are added internally. The system first checks whether the parent language of the localized language is already available in the portal, e.g. "German". If this is not the case, the system checks whether a different, localized version of the language is available in the portal, e.g. "German (Austria)". If this is also not the case, the default language of the portal is used to supplement the global language constants.

Available languages

This list shows all of the languages that can be selected.

Selected languages

This list shows all of the languages that have been activated for this portal.

Move the currently selected language from one list to the other.

Changes the order of the languages, e.g. for later selection in the language switcher.

Default language

The default language is used if language data such as element titles are missing in the selected language. The default language is also used as the default value for the newly created user.

Global texts

In the global texts area, the default texts that appear in the portal can be modified in each of the portal languages.

Meta tags

With meta tags, information for web servers, browsers, and automatic search programs on the internet can be provided. Meta tags are HTML tags that describe the contents of an HTML page. Search engines will, with the help of meta tags, create entries in their databases or calculate weightings in a list of hits.

Defined meta tags

All of the portal's meta tags are listed here.

Remove metatag

Removes the meta tag currently selected.

Move up / down

Modify the order that the meta tags are written to the HTML in.

Title

The title is written in the <title> tag of the individual portal pages.

Multilingualism

Opens a dialog where the title can be edited in the portal languages. The multilingual title cannot be linked to global language constants in meta tags.

Language" column

The activated portal languages are displayed here.

Value" column

Enter the corresponding term in each of the languages.

Add metatag / Edit metatag

Opens a dialog where a new meta tag can be created and existing meta tags can be edited.

Name

You can select the most common meta tags here. You can also define custom meta tags simply by entering the name of your meta tag without selecting an existing meta tag.

Value (single language)

Values for single language meta tags, such as ""Robots=nofollow"", can be entered here.

Value (multi-language)

With this option, values can be entered in each of the portal languages.

Multilingualism

Opens a dialog where the title can be edited in the portal languages. The multilingual title cannot be linked to global language constants in meta tags. Click on "OK" to save changes and close the dialog again.

Layout mapping

For all layouts

This option generates the meta tag in all portal layouts.

For mobile devices only

The meta tag is generated exclusively in the pages that are transformed for mobile devices.

For selected layouts only

The meta tag can be released for individual layouts here.

Available layouts" list

All layouts that can be selected are listed here.

Selected layouts" list

All layouts are listed here where the meta tag is entered.

Move the currently selected layout from one list to the other.

Modify the order of the layouts in the list.

Meanings of meta tags

• Description

  The description may not exceed 200 characters. In the ""Description"" tag you will enter information about the company, product, people, or page contents.

• Keywords

  Keywords consist of individual words or expressions and should be separated with commas. With these keywords, the contents of the page will be summarized and output in variations. Select some appropriate formulations that a user would search for on the internet in order to find a page of your portal.

• Robots (Instructions for search engines)

  Here you will define how the page will be handled by robots, which index pages for search engines.

• noindex

  Forbids the page from being indexed

• index

  Request for the page to be indexed

• follow

  Index page and follow links to additional pages

• nofollow

  Do not index page, do not follow links

There are a large number of additional meta types of information that can be entered. For more information on the topic, please search for literature on the topic of web design or the Internet.

Global language constants

Every text element used by default in Intrexx is defined in the global language constants. Here you will also find special language constants for Intrexx Share. This helps you to administrate texts that appear in the portal often and in many applications centrally.

Search

Enter a search term here. Simply enter the desired term to do so.

Filters

Type

You can filter the list by constants that are used in JavaScript or Velocity.

Own / Standard

With this filter, you can decide whether your own constants, Intrexx standard constants or both should be shown.

Name column

Displays the name of the language constant.

Type column

The use of the constant is shown here.

Language column

In the following columns, all texts are displayed in the respective portal languages.

Filter languages

Click here if you want to hide a language column in the list, e.g. English.

Create a copy of the language constant

Creates a copy of the constant currently selected.

Delete

Deletes the currently selected constant created by you. Intrexx standard constants cannot be deleted.

Add new language constant / Edit language constant

Opens a dialog where a new language constant can be defined or an existing language constant marked in the list can be edited.

Name

Provide the language constant with a name here. This name will be used later to address the constant in each scope. The name has to be unique. Only use capital letters and avoid using special characters and spaces. The name must start with a letter, followed by letters, numbers or _. Specifying a namespace is recommended to isolate your own constants from the Intrexx standard constants. This can be namespace referring to projects or customers.

Type

Here, you can specify the scope of a language constant:

Constant is only available in JavaScript

The constant cannot be used as a title in applications or in Velocity. Use as few of these language constants as possible because JavaScript always needs to be transferred. Only use language constants in JavaScript for messages in custom check routines (alert(), prompt(), confirm() or Intrexx-Notifier) or for a dynamic output in view text fields. The currently set portal language is always used in JavaScript. If the first key is not found, as in the following example, the search continues with this if a fallback parameter is available. If the fallback does not return a result either, "undefined" is returned.

            // Read application constant
ix.text.i18n.getByApp(p_strAppGuid, p_strKey, p_strKeyFallback);
// Read portal constant
ix.text.i18n.get(p_strKey, p_strKeyFallback);

        

Constant is evaluated as a Velocity expression

The constant is available in Velocity and the Groovy context but not in JavaScript. Constants available for all uses can also be used in Groovy. Only use constants in Velocity for labeling pages. This is the most common application area and should therefore be preferred. This also applies when they are used in Groovy. The language key is entered as the ISO language code (de, en etc.). When accessing application constants, the application's GUID must be specified as a parameter.

            ## Read portal constant 
##(Portal language is used as a criterion)
$I18N.get(p_strKey)

## Read portal constant with default language
$I18N.getByLang(p_strLang, p_strKey)

## Read application constant 
## (Application GUID and constant as parameter)
$I18N.getByApp(p_strAppGuid, p_strKey)

## Read application constant with default language
$I18N.getByAppByLang(p_strAppGuid, p_strLang, p_strKey)

## Example
$I18N.getByAppByLang('3E4..2AF', 'de', 'myKey')

        

Constant is available for all uses

Avoid this setting as much as possible. This type should only be used if a language constant occurs in both of the above cases. Global constants can be used in Velocity as follows:

            $I18N.get("NAME")

        

Application constants can be used as follows:

            $I18N.getByApp(" APPGUID", " NAME")

        

In Groovy, multilingual text constants can be used to generate log entries or constructions, that, for example, are written back to data fields. The constants can also be implemented for the purpose of labeling when generating data exports via Groovy (e.g. XML files). The object g_i18n, which is initialized with the context language, is available for this purpose. If there is no context, the default language of the portal is used as a fallback.

            // Read application constant
def app = g_i18n.application("APPLIKATIONS_GUID")
def appConst = app["APPLIKATION_LANGUAGE_CONSTANT"]

// Read application constant with default language
def appde = app.language("ISO_LANGUAGE_CODE")

// Read portal constant
def portalConst = g_i18n["PORTAL_LANGUAGE_CONSTANT"]

// Read portal constant with default language
def portalde = g_i18n.language("ISO_LANGUAGE_CODE")
def portalConst = portalde["PORTAL_LANGUAGE_CONSTANT"]

// Example: Read application constants explicitly in English
def app = g_i18n.application("3F2…E1A")
def appen = app.language("en")
def text1 = appen["CUSTOMER"]
// Example: Read application constant
def app = g_i18n.application("3F2…E1A")
def text2 = app["CUSTOMER"]
// Example: Reading portal constants explicitly in German
def portalde = g_i18n.language("de")
def text3 = portalde["CAL_WEEK"]

// Example: Read out portal constants
def text4 = g_i18n["CAL_WEEK"]

        

Title

Here you can give the language constant a title in the various portal languages.

Language" column

The portal languages are shown here.

Title" column

The title corresponds to the value that the constant has - it will be displayed when the constant is used in the selected area. Enter the value of your choice here.

Naming rules for language constants

Name your language constants meaningfully so that their use is clear. Using different prefixes can make it easier to differentiate between the names.

Prefix	Use for
COM_	General constants used in different place, e.g. for labelling elements on the page or for the page title
ACTION_	Label for buttons
TABLE_	Texts in tables such as the output if no data records are available (TABLE_NODATA_) or table titles (TABLE_TITLE_).
OPT_	Texts for labels and specifications in the system data group
MSG_	Texts in messages via JavaScript
MSG_WARN_	Texts in warning messages via JavaScript
MSG_ERROR_	Texts in error messages via JavaScript
CONFIRM_	Texts for describing notifications in confirm requests

The MSG_ constants are a special feature, as messages can contain a title and a detailed text (notifier). These can be distinguished by using a suffix at the end of the constant name:

Suffix	Use for
_TITLE	The message title
_TEXT	The message text

If language constants are used for list entries, all entries for these elements should be grouped in the language constants list. Use a property after the prefix to group them together - such as the term ""ACCESSTYPE"". Each of the options ""_ROLE, _GROUP"" and ""_USER"" is then added afterwards accordingly.

COM_ACCESSTYPE_ROLE
COM_ACCESSTYPE_GROUP
COM_ACCESSTYPE_USER

There are no hard and fast rules for naming language constants because how the constant names are defined depends on the complexity of the application. The naming examples stated above should only serve as a possible approach.

Portal Manager language settings

You can access this dialog via the main menu "Extras / Options".

Language of the Portal Manager

The language of the Portal Manager can be defined here. The new setting will take effect when you restart the Portal Manager.

Display language of multilingual titles

The language in which multilingual titles are displayed can be selected here.

Language adjustment

When opening an application, process or layout, a check is performed as to whether every element has been provided with a title in each of the portal languages. For example, if you have activated a new portal language, the titles of elements in this new language are initially empty. Upon opening, a dialog will be displayed which allows you to transfer the titles from an existing portal language to the empty titles of the newly activated portal language.

In order for the check for missing titles to be carried out when opening, the setting "Check for missing titles" must be set in the respective module via the main menu "Extras/Options".

Find and translate element titles

In the "Applications", "Design" and "Processes" modules, you can search for elements that do not yet have a title in one of the portal languages. Information on this topic can be found here.

Exporting and importing texts and language constants

All information on importing and exporting titles and names of application or process elements can be found here.

Information on importing and exporting global language constants can be found here.

Multilingual titles

 

Whenever you find the globe symbol for multilingualism in the Intrexx Portal Manager, you have the option of adding titles, descriptions or similar. multilingual.

In applications, you will find a button to the right of the title field in the properties dialog of elements. Click on the small arrow on the right of this button to display a menu in which you can select whether a static title or a title from a constant should be used for the element.

If you select "Title" here , the globe symbol is then displayed on the button to the left of the small arrow.

If you select "Title from constant", you will then find an "A" on the button.

Static titles

Click on the globe symbol to display a dialog in which a static title can be entered in the portal languages set.

The text entered here will then be used in the browser according to the language setting in the portal properties. This also applies if the user switches the language in the browser.

Title from constant

Constants can be used for element titles in applications instead of static text. The text entered in the constants is then used in the browser according to the language setting in the portal properties. This also applies if the user switches the language in the browser. Information on how to create constants, edit them and define the multilingual text is available here:

• Global language constants

• Language constants in applications

If you have selected "Title from constant" in the properties dialog for elements, the selection list for the title then functions like a search.

Simply enter the name of the constant you are looking for and select the constant from the selection list.

Clicking on the "A" in the button to the right of the title selection opens the"Global language constants" dialog, in which you can also search for constants and edit them directly.

Language switch in modules

The language in which the titles of elements in the Portal Manager are displayed in the individual modules can be switched via the globe icon in the toolbar.

Portal menu

For applications that are integrated in the menu structure, you can set that the title of the application is adopted as the menu item. If the title is already stored there in multiple languages, the values for the respective portal languages are also adopted. If the setting Accept title from application is deactivated, the title for the menu item must be stored here in multiple languages. Multilingual titles can also be defined for all other objects such as menu folders, links or separators.

Further information on the menu structure can be found here.

Layout

As each portal layout is made up of different containers, which are evaluated by screen readers, particularly in the case of accessible concepts, the multilingual titles of the containers must also be taken into account. You cannot use your own language constants in the layout. The individual elements in the layout use correspondingly defined global language constants.

User settings

In the "Users" module, country-specific settings can be made in the properties of users.

The settings here for time zone, language, format and layout have priority over the settings that are set in the country-specific portal properties.

Applications

In the "Applications" module, the use of language constants in applications is not only useful for multilingual applications - monolingual applications also benefit from the use of constants. Because the same text appears in multiple locations, these can be modified much more easily via a central constant. The INTREXX GmbH therefore recommends developing applications from scratch on the basis of application constants.

Language constants in applications

In contrast to the global language constants, constants can also be defined directly in applications, which are then only valid within the application. Constants for applications can be added, edited and deleted via the main menu "Application / Manage language constants". All information on the settings in the "Manage language constants" dialog can be found here.

From Intrexx version 12.0.0

In applications, both language constants that are only valid within the application and global language constants can be defined.

The corresponding dialog can be found in the properties of application elements. General information on this can be found in the section "Multilingual titles".

If you want to create global language constants, you need the "Manage global language constants" portal right.

In the "Manage language constants" dialog, click on the small arrow button next to the "New language constant" button to display a menu that allows you to decide whether the new constant should be valid application-wide or globally. The constant can be created via the following dialog.

Constants for applications can be added, edited and deleted via the main menu "Application / Manage language constants".

Options - Language constants

The optional settings for language constants and titles can be accessed via the main menu "Extras / Options / Applications / Language constants and titles".

Constant type upon creation

Here, you can define the constant type that should initially be assigned to new constants.

Initial title assignment

You can define which type of title elements will be given when they are created in the Application Designer.

Preallocate title field with default title

The title is taken from the language constant DEFAULT_CTRL_<type of control> for the respective element. The title is displayed in the browser in the portal language currently set. The title is also applied to data fields and data groups with this setting.

Preallocate title field with prefix pattern

Sets the Title from constant setting when creating elements and fills the title field with the pattern defined here. This preset can also be supplemented by the constant name.

Leave title field initially blank and when the user leaves the dialog,

• leave the field blank

  The title field is left blank when the user closes the dialog.

• display a warning

  If the title field is empty, a corresponding message is displayed when the user exits the dialog.

• provide a default title

  The title is taken from the language constant DEFAULT_CTRL_<type of control> if the title field is empty when the dialog is exited.

Multilingual element titles

You can find out how to store the titles of elements in several languages here.

Multilingual list entries

For the elements

• Drop-down list

• Listbox

• Multiple selection

• Option field

user-defined values can be selected as the source for the list in the element.

Click on "Edit" to open the dialog for editing the list entries.

Constants can also be used here instead of static values. To do this, click on the small arrow to the right of the globe. You can find out how to select a constant here. The displayed value from the constant and the saved value must be identical in this case.

Multilingual data records

You can find out how to enter data records in different languages and display them in the correct language depending on the respective language setting of the portal in the Tips & Tricks article "Multilingual data records".

Multilingual data with doubled primary key

In order to make data available in multiple languages, these can be saved in a data group using the principle of a doubled primary key. This is made up of a key and an ISO language code. For control tables, e.g. for statuses, the key should be a descriptive string. For all other data, it should be a GUID.

A new data field with the title "Language" is created for the second primary key before the application is published.

On the "Expert" tab, the expert attribute "primarykey" is set to yes.

When data records are entered, both primary keys need to be populated with values so that errors do not occur when the data is processed. To do this, the language data field can be linked to an input field in the hidden area. The input field is pre-assigned with the current portal language via its binding.

A common scenario is the use of multilingual master data such as statuses or categories via a reference in transaction data records. If a reference to a data group with two primary keys is created, the session variable "Language" must be assigned for the language key. The other primary key is left at "Is created automatically".

Using the reference, Intrexx will now always provide the corresponding language text in the browser.

Multilingual emails

Email to one recipient

If a user sends an e-mail, their language setting can be determined in a process. The process can then apply the determined language to the email to be sent in an email action.

The subject can be defined by translating the language-dependent subject accordingly. In the properties dialog of the email action, the parameter ""language"" can be added on the Expert tab.

            // Language of the current user
def l_strLanguage = Locale.forLanguageTag(g_language).getDisplayLanguage(new Locale(g_language))

// Language of any user 
// (via its GUID and the user object)
def l_objUser = g_om.getUser(l_strUserGuid)
def l_strLanguage = objUser.getDefaultLanguage()

// Putting language into the processing context
g_sharedState.maillanguage = strLanguage

        

In the properties dialog of the e-mail action, the "language" parameter can be added on the "Expert" tab and the language determined from the processing context can be transferred as a value with " urn.sharedState.maillanguage".

The subject can also be defined via a language constant. To do this, the content of the language constant is read out using the corresponding Groovy method, specifying the previously determined language.

            
// Determine subject from language constant and place in processing context 

g_sharedState.subject = g_i18n.application("APP_GUID").language(l_strLanguage)["MYMAILSUBJECT"]

        

The value from the processing context is then entered with "urn.sharedState.subject" in the static, language-independent subject of the email action.

If the e-mail is also sent via CC and BCC to recipients with different languages, this procedure cannot be used. This would require separate handling with an individual email action in each case in the process chain. The message text could also be identified in a preceding Groovy action and then written to the processing context. The processing context can then be read in Velocity and from that, the email body can be generated.

Email to distribution list

There are two solutions for taking multilingualism into account when sending emails to a distribution list:

• An email action is created for each language where the recipients are selected based on their defined language.

• The email is generated with Groovy script while taking the language of each user into account. However, the message body needs to be constructed manually in this case.

A possible construction is shown below. In this case, however, only user objects can be recipients via the distribution list.

            import de.uplanet.lucy.util.TextUtil
import de.uplanet.lucy.server.mail.GroovyMailBuilder
import de.uplanet.lucy.server.mail.MailUtil
import de.uplanet.lucy.server.portalserver.PortalServerPath
import de.uplanet.lucy.server.composer.UrlBuilder

// Contents of a distribution list (GUIDs of recipients)
def l_strRecipients = g_record["640...DAC"].value
def l_aReceipients = TextUtil.stringToList(strRecipients)

aReceipients.each {
  def strEmail = g_dbQuery.executeAndGetScalarStringValue(conn, "SELECT
  STRMAILBIZ FROM VBLUSER WHERE STRGUID = ?", null) {
    setString(1, it)
  }
  if(strEmail != null && strEmail != "")
  {	
    def mail = new GroovyMailBuilder().composeMail {
	  headers = [
		"X-IX-Share": "intrexx-share-notification",
	]

	from        = MailUtil.getDefaultSenderAddress()
	to          = strEmail
	subject     = l_mailHelper.getMailTitle()
	contentType = "text/html; charset=UTF-8"

	body << """<html>  … </html>"""
    }
    mail.drop()
  }
}

        

Language switches

With language constants, the use of language switches in program codes can be largely avoided. The following constructs can nevertheless be useful for special cases. To implement a language switch in JavaScript, the set language of the portal must first be determined with the oHtmlRoot object.

            var l_lang = oHtmlRoot.oUp.oFormatInfo.lang;

switch(l_lang)
{
  case "de":
       // Code for german language
       break;
  case "en":
       // Code for english language
       break;
  :

  default:
       // Fallback if language is missing (default language of the portal)
}

if(l_lang == "de")
{
  // Code for german language
}
else if(l_lang == "en")
{
  // Code for english language
}

:

else
{
  // Fallback if language is missing (default language of the portal)
}

        

The ""oHtmlRoot"" object can also be used to identify the defined default language.

            var l_defaultLang = oHtmlRoot.oUp.oFormatInfo.defaultLang;

Um im Velocity-Kontext sprachabhängige Weichen zu konstruieren, kann die Intrexx-Systemvariable $lang verwendet werden, die die aktuell eingestellte Portalsprache enthält.

#if($lang == "de")
  // Language dependent code
#elseif($lang == "en")
  // Language dependent code
#else
  // Fallback in case of missing language
#end

        

Different options are available for generating multilingual data in a Groovy script or to control certain actions based on the language.

            // Current portal language
g_language
// Default language of the portal
g_defaultLanguage
// Current portal language via request parameter rq_Lang 
g_request.get("rq_Lang")
// Default language Users from the current session
g_session.user.getDefaultLanguage()

        

A switch-case construction can be used to design a language switch for various purposes.

            switch(g_language)
{
  case "de":
    return german
    break
  case "en":
    return english
    break
  default:
    return english
}

        

Multilingual graphics

If graphics are managed via data groups, these can be defined for each language-dependent data record. It is much more difficult to display language-dependent graphics in the layout, as this is not provided for technically. One option for this is to provide the graphic with the ISO code in the filename and then to construct the URL with Velocity using the current portal language. The following ActionControl generated a DIV container with a link to the portal homepage as well as the language-dependent embedding of a graphic. It is important to name the graphic with logo_<iso language abbreviation>.png. The control assembles the filename dynamically by using the current portal language ""$lang"".

            <div id="Container_Logo">
	<a title="Home" href="/$Portal.getPortalName()">
		<img width="199" height="49" src="images/${layout}/logo_${lang}.png" alt="Home">
	</a>
</div>

        

Velocity variables in language constants

Velocity variables can be embedded in all language constants of the type "Language constant is evaluated as velocity expression" when used on application pages. For this to work correctly, the variable needs to be available in the page context. In the following example, the variable ""$Rooms"" is written into the text to add a dynamic statement - the number of rooms - to the static text.

Constant text:

            There are $Rooms Room/Rooms in this building!
        

Output:There are 10 room/rooms in this building!

Language switch with flags

A language switch with flags only makes sense for a few portal languages, and only in combination with the language name. For languages such as English, that are represented by multiple countries and therefore flags, a language switch with flags is not always ideal. Intrexx already delivers a set of graphics with flags that possess the ISO code as their name. First add a new file with the name "languageswitch_flag.vm" to the portal directory internal\system\vm\html\actioncontrol and copy the following Velocity code into this file.

            #set($l_aAllLang = $WebMenu.getMenuLanguages())
<span id="ID_Languageswitch">#foreach($l_strLang in $l_aAllLang)
	#set($l_strImagePath = "images/assets/flags_of_the_world/16x16/plain/${l_strLang}.png")
	#set($l_strDisplayLang = $TextUtil.getDisplayLanguage($l_strLang, $l_strLang))
 	<a style="width: 16px; height: 16px; display: inline-block; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: center; background-image: url($l_strImagePath); cursor: pointer;" onclick="var oLangAction=setLangAction('$velocityCount', '$!l_strLang');oLangAction.changeLang();return false;" lang="$!l_strLang" target="_top" href="$Request.get('DEFAULT_URL')?rq_Lang=$!l_strLang" id="ID_actionLangSwitch${velocityCount}" title="$I18N.get('LANGUAGESWITCH_DESCRIPTION')"></a>#end
</span>
<script type="text/javascript">
	function setLangAction(count, lang){oLangAction = new upTextActionControl();oLangAction = oLangAction.biDirectUpHtml(oLangAction, 'ID_actionLangSwitch' + count);oLangAction.linkType = '4';oLangAction.oTarget = new upTarget();oLangAction.oTarget.rq_Lang = lang;return oLangAction;}
</script>

        

In the "controls.xml" file, insert the following block into the XML structure:

            <control id="Action_LanguageSwitchFlag" mobile="false" multipleUse="false" vm="languageswitch_flag.vm">
	<title lang="en" value="Language Switch with Flags"/>
	<title lang="de" value="Sprachumschalter mit Flaggen"/>
	<description lang="en" value="Language Switch"/>  
	<description lang="de" value="Sprachumschalter"/>
</control>

        

After restarting the Portal Manager, the additional control can be selected accordingly and added to the layout.