Multilingualism with Vertec

Vertec’s multilingualism is divided into two distinct areas:

• Multilinguality of the program: language in which Vertec is shown (user interface language)
• Multilingualism of the data: language in which projects and customer relationships are handled

The multilingual nature of the program (interface language) is relevant for Vertec users. It is about the language in which Vertec is shown.

Vertec is available in German (Switzerland), German (Germany), French, Italian and English.

Language selection

When selecting the interface language, there is a default language. This is displayed in the dialog via the menu button Settings > Change language... shown and can be set by the administrator.

The individual user can now override this by selecting another language from the list. With the button Use default language the user can switch back to the default language at any time.    

If you do not want your Vertec users to work in another Vertec language, you can hide this menu item via System settings General > Show language selection.

The entire Vertec user interface is translated in real time into the language selected here.

The translations are saved in a translation file supplied by Vertec. It is called Vertec.mld and is located in the Vertec installation directory.

Language of the login dialog

The login dialog is shown in the following language:

• Desktop App and Cloud App: Language of the Windows environment on the client, if supported by Vertec, otherwise German.
• Web App: The preferred language set in the browser, if supported by Vertec, otherwise German.

Multilingualism of data

What language does your customer speak? This is about the language in which you communicate with your customers. This is relevant for Creating reports .

The languages available are German, French, Italian and English.

You can assign addresses and projects to one of these languages. Then, when creating reports, the correct language-specific template can be automatically selected.

In addition, you can define texts for service types, expense types and outlay types, etc., in the various languages (see section about MLStrings This means that predefined texts for services, expenses, and outlays, etc., are used in the correct language.

The Vertec translation system

Texts as multi-language strings (MLStrings)

Multi-language strings (MLStrings) are used in various locations in Vertec:

• Titles in the list settings
• Texts for service types, expense types and outlay types
• Designation of payment terms
• Designation of custom fields
• Designation of absence types
• In the Business Intelligence module for the BI measures and the BI displays

You can enter one term per language, which is shown on the Vertec UI or in printouts, e.g. in the list settings:

NV is the original term (native), which is to be translated.

A translation can be entered for each available language.

• NV: Native term, from Vertec 6.4
• DE: German (Switzerland)
• DD: German (Germany), from Vertec 6.5.0.9
• EN: English
• FR: French
• IT: Italian

The native term is automatically translated by the translation system into the relevant language in the respective program jargon. This means that if the Vertec default terms are to be used, the other languages do not have to be set.

The following rules apply:

• If the MLString does not contain any text in the current language, the native text is used and translated via the translation system. In this case, the term is shown in black font.
• If the MLString has a text in the current language when it is displayed on the interface, then this text is used and the term is shown in green font:

By deleting the term in the current language, the translated term is shown again (in black font).

• If the native term is not found by the translation system, it will be shown untranslated in all languages where it is not overridden.
• If there is neither a native term nor an override of the current language, the text is blank.
• Overridden terms in the current language always take precedence over translated terms.

Translation items in Vertec

From Vertec 6.5.0.9, you can define and manage translations directly in Vertec via Settings > Customizing (TranslationItems):

The Native term is the original Vertec term, which is to be translated.

For each available language, there is a field where you can enter the translation.

Translations are considered as follows:

• If a translation text is defined for the current language, it will be displayed.
• German (Germany) and German (Switzerland) inherit from each other.
• If the translation text for the current language is empty, the original translation of the Vertec translation system is shown, if available.
• If a jargon is defined (optional), the translation is considered only if this jargon is active.

Customer-specific translations in Vertec versions before 6.5.0.9

In Vertec versions before 6.5.0.9, customer-specific translations were made via UserDict. You can find more information on this in the article Changes in translations over time .

There are several ways to find the original term (native term) in Vertec. For folders, for example, you can see the original in folder properties . It is also easy for terms that you have defined yourself, e.g. rate levels that you want to translate for employees of other languages, or folders that you have created yourself.

For example, say you want to translate the Users folder under root data. Here, you can clearly see how the native term can differ from the term displayed on the interface. In the folder properties, you can see that the folder name is Bearbeiters. That’s the native term.

It becomes more difficult for terms defined in Vertec, such as the field names on pages. A good way to find out the native term is to look in the built-in page definitions of class settings, which you can reach via Settings > Customizing > Class settings:

What is being translated?

The entire Vertec program interface is translated in real time into the language currently set (see Language selection ).

Data

The interface also translates certain data: For example, Vertec automatically translates the default display of the objects (string representation) into the selected interface language at the following locations:

• Title of pages
• Display in tree
• Display of tabs
• Breadcrumbs
• Title of windows when displayed in taskbar
• In the list columns

Objects with entry ID

Objects such as folders, absence types, etc., are translated if you have an entry ID (see article Using entry ID):

By default, each object created by Vertec contains an entry ID to distinguish them from objects created by customers. Therefore, these objects are not automatically translated.

The idea behind this is to avoid problems with customer user data, which happen to be the same as standard Vertec terms. For example, “PM” would show in the tree in a German Vertec as “PL” (because “PM” is interpreted and translated by the translation mechanism as “project manager”). NEED ENG EXAMPLE

In order to have the name of a self-created object translated by the translation system, it is possible to assign an entry ID to the object. Exactly how to do this is described in the article Using the entry ID.

• This applies to all objects where the designation field is not an ML field, e.g. project types, VAT types, etc.
• From Vertec 6.5.0.15, the terms of additional custom fields are translated, if the custom field has an entry ID.
• In the case of link containers, the link type needs an entry ID.
• In the case of folders, the folder directly must have an entry ID.

Reports

Reports are available in German, English, French and Italian. Unlike the Vertec user interface, here we do not make a distinction in German between Switzerland and Germany.

Reports are translated as follows:

Advanced Office reports

The fields in advanced Office reports are automatically translated into the respective interface language, as long as the terms in the templates are translated (all labels provided with translation).

In addition, when registering advanced Office reports, you can set the Activate translation to project language checkbox. This has the following effects:

• Reports that are run on individual objects that have a defined relationship to a project (e.g. invoices or project evaluations) are translated into this project language (or all labels provided with translation).
• Reports that run on multiple objects (list reports) are translated into the current Vertec interface language.

If you also want to translate data in the report, you can do this using vtcapp.translate(<text>) in the report code. The data is always translated into the current interface language.

Office reports (Vertec-generated and Office-generated)

For Office reports, a separate template must be registered for each language to be used, which is written in that language.

Depending on which language a project or address is assigned to, the correct template is then automatically selected.

How is the translation done?

The translation happens in the following order: MLStrings > Translation entries in Vertec > Vertec default translation.

If these are “normal” strings – e.g. folder names etc., then the translation is done in the order Translation entries in Vertec > Vertec default translation.

• DE German (Switzerland) and DD German (Germany) inherit from each other.
• Jargon project/case inherit from each other. But only for the Vertec default translation. For Vertec translation entries, they do not.

The following diagram illustrates the process of when and how to translate: