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bendep

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HowTo internationalization RightToLeft (Hebrew or Arabic) PB9-based

Hi all,
i need to enable a pfc-based application for hebrew use..
As i've found out powerbuilder has some functionality to support these
languages (and a couple of straightforward functions) but an example of an
application that uses both seems a bit harder to find.
If possible i would like to deliver one application where the user can
choose his application language.
Translation issues i've got covered, but switching between English and eg.
Hebrew is still a big question.
If this would not be possible, then i'd like to find out how (based on your
experiences) one ideally starts with this.
As i understood, since i'm using PB 9.01 Enterprise, i don't need another
PB-version, but i should install Hebrew regional stuff on my PC (WinXP pro),
then the application object and all (ALL?!!) windows and datawindows need a
RightToLeft-boolean switched on. and that's that?
Is there a way to simulate this without having to switch to Hebrew itself
(like an english RightToLeft??)
Would it be possible to change from LeftToRight to RightToLeft
programatically? (user switches between english and hebrew)
What's with the unicode?? as i see it i shd be using UTF-7? What
implications shd i expect?
Which of my assumptions are wrong (or right, if too many are wrong..)
What are your experiences on this?

Thanks,

Ben

A good link (Mirroring Awareness): http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/getwr/steps/WRG_mirror.mspx
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gafoor78
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bendep

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i didn't expect the work to be so elaborate. Assumed that switching the RightToLeft on would cause Powerbuilder to nicely reposition everything accordingly. Silly that a developer shd be confronted with operating system settings.
Anyway, thanks a lot for your response.. it helped me realizing the size of the problem better. I think i'll incorporate your approach with the current multi-language approach, ie. when a user switches the application language from english to hebrew, he'll see everything change accordingly. I'll try to use dw-modifies to change the datawindows at runtime because i don't feel like repositioning everything in the painter.. i know it sounds crazy, and i assume it is. ;-) we'll see. if not, i can turn to your approach.

Greetz,

Ben
Hi Ben

I know that you can get an Hebrew PFC from the Isarel distributer (Ness ltd) I believe it's free.

In fact they are also the distributers of multilingual packages that support dynamic or static Hebrew interface.

The RightToLeft support is rather complex and involves interface mirroring, translations, properties updates such as fonts, charsets, LeftToright, alignment, leftText...

Best regards,
Avinoam

Dear Sir,

Please write to me the API Calls for Setting Window Language to English and Arabic and
how to script for the same.

Thanking You,

With Best Regards,
Mohd. Arshad.N