Build a bi-lingual interview - XpressDox

Multi-language support in an interview

In a multi-lingual setting (either where a country has more than one official language, or when an organisation employs speakers of different languages), it would be useful to present the interview for a template in the language of the user. Why this is an issue is that it appears obvious that the captions, help, etc. in a template will be encoded in the language of the template.  But in a multi-lingual setting it might very often be the case that a user of one language is required to run templates whose merged document will be in another language.  It would be really useful for XpressDox to be able to present an interview in French if the user is a French speaker, and in English for English users, where the document itself is in English.  For the same template.  And vice versa.  XpressDox can indeed do that, as long as the template author marks up the template accordingly.

Delivered with XpressDox, in the folder My Documents\XpressDox\Samples\Estates_Wills\Templates, is a template which produces a Last Will and Testament.  The document name is Will.xdtpx.  This example will show how to render the interview for that English document in either French or English, depending on which language the user has chosen as the XpressDox user interface language (see Multi-language Support for how this language is determined by XpressDox).  Here is how it can be done:

• Open the template  My Documents\XpressDox\Samples\Estates_Wills\Templates\Utilities\Layout.xdtpx
  
• Include the following at the end of the template, replacing the duplicate commands with these, or by inspection merge them – play around and see what happens.

«Caption(AccountNumber,^b^@Navy@en=Account Number;fr=numéro de compte)»
«Caption(Signatory,en=Signatory;fr=signataire)»
«Caption(XDChooseMarriageType,en=Marriage Type;fr=choisissez  l’état civil )»
«Caption(Spouse,en=Spouse;fr=époux)»
«Caption(SignatoryAddress,en=Signatory’s Address;fr=adresse signataires)»
«Caption(SpouseType,en=Spouse is;fr=époux est)»
«Caption(FailingClause,en=Failing Clause;fr=clause défaut)»
«Caption(AdditionalExecutors,en=AdditionalExecutors;fr=exécuteurs additional)»
«Caption(Attorney,en=Attorney;fr=mandataire)»
«Caption(AttorneyGender,en=Gender of Attorney;fr=sex du mandataire)»
«Caption(FirmName,en=Firm Name;fr=nom de l'entreprise)»
«Caption(FirmPlace,en=Firm Place;fr=place l'entreprise)»
«Caption(Trustees,en=Trustees;fr=administrateur)»
«Caption(IncludeAtty,en=Include Attorney;fr=inclure le mandataire comme administrateur)»
«Caption(PreferredAdvisor,en=Preferred Advisor;fr=conseiller privilégié)»
«Caption(Guardian,en=Guardian;fr=curateur/curatrice)»
«Caption(SignPlace,en=Place of Signature;fr=lieu de signature)»
«Caption(DateOfSignature,en=Date of Signature;fr=date de signature)»
«Caption(MarriageDescription,en=Marriage Description;fr=description de l’état civil)»
«Tab(en=Signatory;fr=signataire,Signatory,SignatoryAddress,SignPlace,DateOfSignature,AccountNumber,SignedAtFirmPlace)»
«Tab(en=Marriage;fr= l’état civil,XDChooseMarriageType,MarriageDescription,Spouse,SpouseType,Guardian)»
«Tab(en=Executors and Trustees;fr= exécuteurs et al)»
«Caption(Child,en=Child;fr=Enfant)»
«ChooseFromRDBList(FailingClause,yes~~fr=inclure la clause additionnelle avec exécuteurs testamentaires;en=include clause including additional executors,no~~fr=ne pas comprendre la clause ci-dessus;en=do NOT include that clause)»
«InterviewTitle(en=Last Will and Testament;fr=Testament)»

• Save the Layout.xdtpx template and then run the Will template.
• Using the Settings>Language sub-menu on the XpressDox ribbon, change the language between French and English and see what happens.
• Some of the controls on the interview will not behave in the way expected.  In particular the «ChooseFromRDBList(FailingClause,…..)».  This is because the command appears in the Will template as well as the Layout template.  Play around with these commands until you get what you want.
• None of the Help messages have been translated above, but by this time you should be in a position to try doing that.

Multi-language with the Define command

Notice above how the commands are structured, with the English and French descriptions separated with a semi-colon. It is slightly different in the case of a Define command since the semi-colons denote other syntax. In the Define caption you would write your captions as below, with no separators:

«Define(County,en=English caption fr=French caption,,,,CaptureDataElement)»