[AccessD] Conversion

Doris:

When I converted E-Z-MRP (www.e-z-mrp.com) to Access from a DOS 
platform, I anticipated having foreign language versions and so I put 
all of the text - command button captions, labels, error messages into 
tables.  The first column of the table (after the autonumber key, of 
course) is the form name; the second field is the control name; third 
field is the English.  To make another language then, I just add a field 
to the record.  In the case of Chinese, I had to add two fields - one 
for traditional the other for simplified Chinese.  I then sent the 
tables (one table for controls, one for messages) to my Chinese 
distributor who simply entered the translation in the appropriate 
column.  I recently added a column for French and a dealer in France has 
just made the translations.

In a Preferences form of the application front end, the user can specify 
the language they want to see.  The preference is stored int he front 
end so that one user can be looking at the app in one language, another 
user can see the same data but in a different language.  Of course, any 
back end data they enter, such a part description, appears only in the 
language they entered it in originally.

At form or report load time I call one of several translate routines 
which go to the tables, find the control in questions and replace the 
caption or whatever with the field from the record is specified by the 
user's language preference.  To do Asian languages I had only to load 
the Eastern Asian Language support in Windows and, walla!, up it came in 
Chinese. (Of course I have no earthly idea what it says, I have to trust 
the translator.)  The translate routine did need to accommodate Unicode, 
because I guess that's what Chinese characters are stored in.  I think 
it's a double word for each character.

But you don't have to use the table approach if you want to have just a 
hard coded front end in a different language.  Turns out to be quite 
easy, but then you have two or more versions to support.  With the table 
approach, you have only one version.

That's just the Cliff notes version.  Let me know what further questions 
this generates.

Best,

Rocky Smolin
Beach Access Software
858-259-4334
www.e-z-mrp.com





DorisH3 at aol.com wrote:
>  
> Hi Rocky,
>  
> I understand you have been through a conversion to another  language other 
> than English...can an Access database using VB  modules be converted to Japanese 
> or Chinese?  If it can be what is the  process?
>  
> I appreciate any light that you can throw my way...I have a client who is  
> dealing with clients in Japan and China and they want to be able to use the same 
>  Access database.
>  
> Doris
>
>   

-- 
Rocky Smolin
Beach Access Software
858-259-4334
www.e-z-mrp.com