The Enabler supports international languages, character sets, and currency/date/number formats. These are configured in Windows regional settings. This FAQ describes how to set up a Windows 7/XP/2000 system running Enabler for different locales.
Install Windows Language
Before configuring the language settings, you will need to either
- Install a localised version of Windows, which comes pre-installed with the desired language
OR
- Use the MUI (Multilingual User Interface) version of Windows to add multiple languages
The MUI version of Windows is only available with certain licenses Windows 7 Enterprise/Ultimate, or via Enterprise license agreements on older versions of Windows. Contact your local Microsoft representative for more information.
Language Packs can be added to the MUI version of Windows 7/XP/2000. They provide several things:
- Fonts.
- Resources to display Windows itself (menus, buttons etc) in different languages.
- Input methods.
To add language packs, insert the language CD and use the setup program that launches (MuiSetup.exe) to install extra languages. Note that, simply ticking languages in the Regional Settings control panel, does not install the language pack, only the fonts.
1. Open the Regional Options in the Windows Control Panel
To configure regional and Language options in Windows Control Panel depending on your Windows version:
- Windows 7 - open "Region and Language" -> "Location" tab
- Windows XP - open "Regional and Language Options" -> "Regional Options" tab
- Windows 2000 - open "Regional Options" -> "General" tab
There are several things to set correctly. Please note: It is not enough to set "Your locale". You must also set the system default locale.
Note: if you have installed a localised version of Windows, these settings should already be set for your country and locale.
2. Set user locale
Instructions for Windows 7
Go to the "Region and Language" control panel and click the "Location" tab. Click the button below "Current Location:" to show the list of locale options.
Instructions for Windows XP
Go to the "Regional Options" tab and select the Location. This is shown in the screen-shot below:
Instructions for Windows 2000
3. Set System Locale
Instructions for Windows 7
Go to the "Administrative" tab in the "Region and Language" control pane. Click the "Change system locale..." button and select the same locale chosen in step 2 (above).
NOTE: This requires Administrative privileges. When you click this button you may be prompted for an Administrator Login.
Instructions for Windows XP
Go to the "Advanced" tab and select the Language for non-Unicode programs. This is shown in the screen-shot below:
Instructions for Windows 2000
4. Set Windows UI Language
If you are using the MUI version of Windows, then you can also select the language you want in "Menus and Dialogs". This determines the language Windows will use to display menus, and dialogs.
On older Enabler Software this setting was used to determine which language to display.
In more recent Enabler Software the System Default Locale is used. This different approach allows us to provide Enabler translations for languages that Windows has not been localised for.
5. Setup all computers with the same settings
If you are installing a multi-computer system, all computers at the site must use the same system locale. Otherwise, characters will display differently, or not at all, on each computer.
6. Restart Windows
After changing some of these settings (e.g. System Locale) you have to restart your computer to activate the new setting.
Notes
- Language Selection for the interface of the Enabler applications originally used the Windows UI language (see 4) but in more recent versions uses the System Default Locale (see 3) in order to allow translations for languages that Windows has not been localised for.
- Multiple languages (with different character sets) cannot be mixed on the same system e.g Greek and Thai. This would require full Unicode support. Currently Enabler applications use MBCS (Multi-Byte Character Set).
- The Enabler currently has translations for the following languages:
- Albanian
- Chinese (Simplified)
- English
- French
- Italian
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Serbian
- Spanish
- Thai
- Bahasa (Indonesia)
- Russian
- If you have non-English data in the Enabler system, then change to a different language, the Enabler applications may crash or be unable to update data. You must restore the original language and change to English text, or manually update the database.
- The Enabler database uses Unicode for strings (e.g. Grade name).
- We are always trying to improve the Enabler's support for international settings. Please let us know if you find any problems with the display or storage of non-English data.