ATG | Internationalizing the repository items

Here I am going to explain internationalization "best-practice" strategy provided by ATG.

Here are the steps :

1. Identify properties for translation in given item-descriptor. In below example title,content, location.

2. Now create new properties in base item-descriptor [article]. These properties will point to existing properties database column. For example we have created contentDefault property to refer long_description column. This column was initially referred by content property. Name these properties in such a way so that these can bee easily differentiate from derived property [postfix property name with Default].

3. Create the helper item descriptor to store the translated data. This item-descriptor will contain all the translated properties from main item-descriptor. Here articleTranslation used for this purpose.

4. Now add map type property in base item-descriptor which is map of locale to translated item [defined in above step]. In below example translations property is used to map locale to articleTranslation.

5. Change the definitions of the translatable properties in the existing item types. The new definitions should specify that each translatable property is a derived property. Here atg.repository.dp.LanguageTranslation class used to implement the derivation.

Below mechanism is used to find the values of translatable property.

•  Use the current locale to look up a corresponding baseTypeTranslation [articleTranslation] item in the translations property map. The property derivation attempts to find a best match. First, it searches the locale keys for a match on the entire locale with a variant, then it searches for a match on the locale without a variant, and finally it searches on just the language code.

•  If a baseTypeTranslation [articleTranslation] item exists for the current locale, use its value for the property.

• If a baseTypeTranslation [articleTranslation] item does not exist for the current locale, or its value for the property is null, use the translatablePropertyDefault [stored in base item-descriptor] value instead.

Below is the example of internationalization : Here we have article repository item [with 3 properties title,content, location]. Here articleTranslation item-descriptor is used to translate these properties.

==========================================================================
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<gsa-template>

    <!--///////////////////////////////-->
    <!--     article                         -->
    <!--///////////////////////////////-->
   
    <item-descriptor name="article" display-property="titleDefault" display-name="article">
   
        <table name="shop_article" type="primary" id-column-name="article_id">
            <property name="id" data-type="string" column-name="article_id"  display-name="article_id"/>
            <property name="titleDefault" data-type="string" column-name="title" 
                     display-name="titleDefault"/>   
            <property name="contentDefault" data-type="big string" column-name="long_description" 
                    display-name="contentDefault"/>
            <property name="locationDefault" data-type="string" column-name="article_location" 
                    display-name="location"/>   
        </table>
       
        <property name="title" data-type="string" writable="false" hidden="true" queryable="true" 
                    display-name="title">
            <derivation user-method="atg.repository.dp.LanguageTranslation">
                <expression>titleDefault</expression>
            </derivation>
            <attribute name="defaultProperty" value="titleDefault" />
            <attribute name="defaultLocale" value="en" />
        </property>
       
        <property name="content" data-type="big string" writable="false" hidden="true" queryable="true"
            display-name="content">
            <derivation user-method="atg.repository.dp.LanguageTranslation">
                <expression>contentDefault</expression>
            </derivation>
            <attribute name="defaultProperty" value="contentDefault" />
            <attribute name="defaultLocale" value="en" />
        </property>
       
        <property name="location" data-type="string" writable="false" hidden="true" queryable="true"
            display-name="location">
            <derivation user-method="atg.repository.dp.LanguageTranslation">
                <expression>locationDefault</expression>
            </derivation>
            <attribute name="defaultProperty" value="locationDefault" />
            <attribute name="defaultLocale" value="en" />
        </property>
       
        <table name="shop_article_translations" type="multi" multi-column-name="locale" 
                     id-column-names="article_id">
            <property name="translations" display-name="Translations" 
                    column-name="translation_id"      data-type="map"  
                    component-item-type="articleTranslation"  display-name="translations">
            </property>
        </table>
       
    </item-descriptor>
   
    <!--///////////////////////////////-->
    <!--     articleTranslation      -->
    <!--///////////////////////////////-->

    <item-descriptor name="articleTranslation" id-space-name="articleTranslation" 
         display-name="articleTranslation"  display-property="title">
       
        <table name="shop_article_xlate" type="primary" id-column-name="translation_id">
            <property name="title" column-name="title" data-type="string"  display-name="Title" />
            <property name="content" data-type="big string" column-name="long_description" 
                      display-name="content"/>
            <property name="location" data-type="string" column-name="article_location"
                     display-name="location" />
        </table>
       
    </item-descriptor>
</gsa-template>
==========================================================================

Advantages of this approach : 

• Applications can switch between international and non-international modes without requiring any JSP  page changes. 

• No database schema changes are required to add additional languages.