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Multilingual Metadata

For models that are published in multiple languages, you can view and modify model objects in the different languages.

We recommend that you handle multilingual support in the import view for a variety of reasons. You can reduce the number of query items contained in each dimension and query subject. With fewer dimensions, query subjects, and query items, the model is more manageable. You can simplify maintenance by doing all multilingual work in one place instead of in different business views. This ensures consistency because the languages are set up correctly for all modelers to use. This is particularly important for segmented models.

To support multilingual metadata, do the following:

      

Import metadata from multilingual data sources .

      

Define the languages the model supports .

      

Define one or more parameter maps that translate the locale used when the report is run into the language values in the data source .

      

Use a macro to dynamically substitute language values from the language lookup table using the runLocale session parameter as the key .

      

Export multilingual properties in translation tables, which translators use to enter the correct text for each language .

      

Import the table that contains the translated property values .

      

Publish the metadata in the languages you specify .

For information about how to enable multilingual modeling, see Example - Create a Multilingual Project for Relational Metadata.

Setting Up a Multilingual Reporting Environment

You can create reports that show data in more than one language and use different regional settings. This means that you can create a single report that can be used by report consumers anywhere in the world.

The samples databases provided with Cognos 8 store a selection of text fields, such as names and descriptions, in more than 25 languages to demonstrate a multilingual reporting environment. For information about how data is stored in the samples databases and how the samples databases are set up to use multilingual data, see the Administration and Security Guide.

Here is the process for creating a multilingual reporting environment:

      

Use multilingual metadata.

The data source administrator can store multilingual data in either individual tables, rows, or columns.

For more information about configuring your database for multilingual reporting, see the Administration and Security Guide.

      

Create a multilingual model.

Modelers use Framework Manager to add multilingual metadata to the model from any data source type except OLAP. They add multilingual metadata by defining which languages the model supports, translating text strings in the model for things such as object names and descriptions, and defining which languages are exported in each package. If the data source contains multilingual data, modelers can define queries that retrieve data in the default language for the report user.

For more information, see the Framework Manager User Guide.

      

Create multilingual maps.

Administrators and modelers use a Windows utility named Map Manager to import maps and update labels for maps in Report Studio. For map features such as country and city names, administrators and modelers can define alternative names to provide multilingual versions of text that appears on the map.

For more information, see the Map Manager Installation and User Guide.

      

Create a multilingual report.

The report author uses Report Studio to create a report that can be viewed in different languages. For example, you can specify that text, such as the title, appears in German when the report is opened by a German user. You can also add translations for text objects, and create other language-dependent objects.

For more information, see the Report Studio Professional Authoring User Guide.

      

Specify the language in which a report is viewed.

You can use Cognos Connection to do the following:

  • Define multilingual properties, such as a name, screen tip, and description, for each entry in the portal.

  • Specify the default language to be used when a report is run.

    Tip: You can specify the default language on the run options page, in the report properties, or in your preferences.

  • Specify a language, other than the default, to be used when a report is run.

For more information, see the Cognos Connection User Guide.

The data then appears in the language and with the regional settings specified in

Any text that users or authors add appears in the language in which they typed it.

Modeling with Multilingual Data Sources

To enable a project to work with multiple languages, you must set up data sources to support multiple languages.

Multilingual Relational Data Sources

For relational data sources, you can support multiple languages by using one or more of the following:

These solutions can make the multilingual data sources large and difficult to manage.

You can model a single relational query subject to represent all possible data source languages by using parameter maps and session parameters in the query subject definition. For more information, see Creating Prompts with Query Macros and Multilingual Metadata.

Note: Expression syntax is specific to the design language of the model. If you import objects from a model designed in another language, you may have to adjust the expression syntax.

Multilingual SAP BW Data Sources

For SAP BW metadata, you do not need to use parameters to support multilingual reporting. Since SAP BW automatically provides data in the language that matches the logon settings for the current user. If there is no metadata for the current user’s language, Framework Manager retrieves data in the default language.

Using a Macro to Model Multilingual Data

You can model multilingual data that is stored in multiple tables, columns, or rows for each supported language. You can use macros with parameter maps and session parameters to create dimensions or query subjects that retrieve data in the preferred language of the person viewing the report.

The location of a parameter in the query subject definition depends on the location of multilingual data in the data source. You must have a parameter map in the macro.

Data source location

Parameter location

Example

A column with a language key in another column

Select list

Select 
 PRODUCT_TYPE.PRODUCT_TYPE_CODE,
 PRODUCT_TYPE.PRODUCT_LINE_CODE,
 PRODUCT_TYPE.PRODUCT_TYPE_
 #$Language_lookup
 {$runLocale}# as Product_type
from 
 [gosales].PRODUCT_TYPE 
 PRODUCT_TYPE

Rows whose language is identified by a special column, such as LANG

Filter

Select 
 PRODUCT.PRODUCT_NAME,
 PRODUCT_MULTILINGUAL.
 PRODUCT_NUMBER
from
 [gosales].PRODUCT,
 [gosales].PRODUCT_MULTILINGUAL
Where 
 PRODUCT.PRODUCT_NUMBER =
 PRODUCT_MULTILINGUAL.
 PRODUCT_NUMBER
 and 
 (PRODUCT_MULTILINGUAL."LANGUAGE" =
 #sq($Language_lookup{$runLocale})#

Add a Language to a Project

You can add a language to a project at any time. For example, you do this if the values for a language were not translated earlier.

When you add a language to a project, Framework Manager generates a new property value for every multilingual property of each object in the project. A multilingual property is any text property that appears in a report, such as Name, Description, and Screen Tip.

The new values that Framework Manager assigns to these text properties are a combination of the original property value preceded by the language code. For example, if a dimension is named Country, and you add the Dutch language, Framework Manager inserts a name whose value is (nl)Country.

Each project contains two types of language definitions:

Steps

  1. From the Project menu, click Languages, Define Languages.

  2. In the Available languages box, select each language you want to add and click the arrow button to move it to the Project languages box.

    Tip: To remove a language, select it in the Project languages box and click the arrow button to move it to the Available languages box.

  3. If you want to change the active language, in the Project languages box, click a language and click Set as Active.

  4. Click OK.

    At the prompt, accept the changes you made to the project.

  5. Click OK.

  6. If you want to view multilingual property values in the Properties pane, click the Languages tab.

Export a Translation Table

You can generate and export a translation table to simplify the task of translating model objects. The translation table contains a list of all the text strings defined for multilingual properties, such as Name, Description, and Screen Tip. Translators can then use an external application, such as Microsoft Excel, to type the required information in the table.

You can export a translation table as either a comma-separated value file (.csv) or Unicode text file (.txt). You must export the translation table as a Unicode text file if it either contains a non-Latin language or will be imported by a computer with a language setting that is different from your own computer.

Steps

  1. Select the objects you want to export.

  2. From the Project menu, click Languages, Export Translation File.

  3. In the Project Languages box, click the languages you want to export, and click the arrow button to move them into the Languages to be exported box.

    You must export the design language of the model that will use the translation table. For example, if the translation table will be used in a model that uses French as the design language, you must export French.

    Framework Manager exports the appropriate locale code for each language you select. If you do not select all the languages to be translated, you must manually enter the language codes in the first row of each new language column in the translation table.

  4. In the Model objects to be exported box, select whether you want to export all model objects, or export only preselected objects and their children.

  5. Enter the location and name of the translation table.

  6. Click OK.

Import a Translation Table

You can add text property values for each language defined in your model by importing translated data from a file. The imported file must be a translation table that was used by translators to enter the required translated values.

The translation table must contain the design language of the model that will use the translation table. The translation table can contain a subset of the languages defined for the project.

Steps

  1. From the Project menu, click Languages, Import Translation File.

  2. In the Project Languages box, click the languages in the translation table, and click the arrow buttons to move them to the Translate from and Translate into box.

    You must select the design language for this model.

  3. In the Apply translation to box, select whether you want to apply the translation to all model objects, or only to preselected objects and their children.

  4. Enter the location and name of the translation file.

  5. Click OK.

Example - Create a Multilingual Project for Relational Metadata

You want to create a model that can be used by English, French, and German report authors. You also want the Cognos 8 studios to automatically show metadata in the language required by the report author.

In the go_data_warehouse sample, you need to do the following:

Steps

  1. Open the go_data_warehouse project.

  2. Ensure that English, French, and German are supported languages:

  3. Export all the languages and objects in the project to a comma-separated value file (.csv) named GOSLDW-ML.csv.

  4. Open the GOSLDW-ML.csv file in Microsoft Excel, and translate the strings.

    Note that each column represents a given language, and the file contains only the text strings that exist in the model.

  5. In Framework Manager, import the translated file:

  6. In the Project Viewer, double-click the Language_lookup parameter map.

    Note that the keys match the possible values for the runLocale session parameter, which identifies the language of the current user. These keys are mapped to the language values that are defined in the go_data_warehouse database.

  7. Ensure that the parameter map contains the following information.

    Key

    Value

    de

    DE

    en

    EN

    fr

    FR

  8. Select an object that contains multilingual columns, such as the Order method dimension, and, from the Actions menu, click Edit Definition.

    The language identifier that was appended to the query item name is replaced by a parameter map and the runLocale session parameter:

    Select 
    	ORDER_METHOD_DIMENSION.ORDER_METHOD_KEY,
    	ORDER_METHOD_DIMENSION.ORDER_METHOD_CODE,
    	ORDER_METHOD_DIMENSION.ORDER_METHOD_#$Language_lookup{$runLocale}
# AS ORDER_METHOD 
    from 
    	[go_data_warehouse].ORDER_METHOD_DIMENSION

  9. To preview the results, click the Test tab and then click Test Sample.

  10. From the Project menu, click Session Parameters and change the runLocale session parameter value to fr.

  11. Test the Order method dimension again to view the results.