Regional Settings in the 20/20 DataShed "Options" Panel
The "Regional Settings" panel in 20/20 DataShed provides administrators with the ability to configure 20/20 DataShed for their locale. In the example above, you'll note the following settings:
thisAppDefaultCulture: "Finnish"
The default setting is "English (Canada)"
This setting controls the number, currency, and date formats throughout 20/20 DataShed.
With the "Finnish" setting as in the example, 20/20 DataShed will format the data according to the regional conventions of Finland. Note the Euro, names of months, and number grouping and decimal digits.
This setting is controlled by the "LCID" (Locale Identifier) as outlined by the Microsoft Active Server Pages specification. Therefore, 20/20 DataShed supports all LCID's which are currently available on your web server. The drop-down list in the example above contains a complete list of the available settings (note that some LCID's and associated cultures may not be available unless the appropriate Microsoft Windows language pack is manually installed on the web sever by your server administrator.)
To alter this setting, simply select from the drop-down list and click "Update". The change will be applied throughout 20/20 DataShed when the server memory (application cache) is refreshed or when the administrator "logs out" of the admin area. (Note however that altering this setting does not perform a currency exchange or conversion.)
thisAppDefaultLanguage: English (Canada)
The default setting is "English (Canada)"
This setting determines which language node (in languages.xml) will be used throughout 20/20 DataShed by default.
With the "English (Canada)" setting as in the example, 20/20 DataShed will use the "en-ca" group of language strings.
The drop-down list in the example contains a complete list of all language nodes that are available in languages.xml. Note that 20/20 DataShed (at the time of this writing) is shipped with only an "en-ca" language node; but others may be added by yourself or by us in the future.
To alter this setting, simply select from the drop-down list and click "Update". The change will be applied throughout 20/20 DataShed when the server memory (application cache) is refreshed or when the administrator "logs out" of the admin area. (Note however that altering this setting does not perform a real-time translation of the contents of 20/20 DataShed. Instead it merely instructs 20/20 DataShed to use a different set of language-specific strings from the languages.xml file.
Combining this setting with the information described in the ?strLanguage=(Locale) functionality allows your visitors to view 20/20 DataShed pages in any language of their choice. (Provided that you have also created the appropriate language nodes in the languages.xml file.)
defaultCurrencyDecimalPlaces: 2
The default setting is 2.
This setting determines how many decimal places are to be written in currency formats.
With the setting of "2" as in the example, currencies will be rounded-off to 2 decimal places.
Example: 12345.6789 will become $1,2345.68 (or cultural equivalent)
To alter this setting, simply select from the drop-down list and click "Update". The change will be applied throughout 20/20 DataShed when the server memory (application cache) is refreshed or when the administrator "logs out" of the admin area.
thisAppMinutesOffset: (Date/Time)
The default setting is "Now()" (The web server's local time offet by zero minutes.)
This setting is useful in situations where your web site resides no a web server located in a different time zone than your own.
To alter this setting, select your local date and time from the drop-down list and click "Update". The change will be applied throughout 20/20 DataShed when the server memory (application cache) is refreshed or when the administrator "logs out" of the admin area.
The Flexibility of Templates
As you explore the templates folder, you will quickly find that HTML templates can be created for 20/20 DataShed in any language. The HTML templates are of course your own creation and therefore they can display your local language as easily as they can display English. Of course the general concepts of international HTML design apply -- for instance, you can define the character set and utilize the standard HTML tags, JavaScript, etc., just as you would on any other web page.
Furthermore, you may use any number of HTML template "sets" (perhaps a different set for each language you'd like to display on your web site) by utilizing the functionality described in the ?strTemplatesURL=(A URL) section of the the _globals.asp file. In this manner it would be possible to display 20/20 DataShed content within an Spanish template, then a French template, then a Greek, Danish, or Arabic template -- all on the same web site.
Language-Specific Strings in the languages.xml File.
20/20 DataShed (at the time of this writing) is shipped with an English (Canada) language package. However, any number of languages can be added to 20/20 DataShed on your web site. This will enable you to display 20/20 DataShed content in any language (or any number of different languages) you choose. Read the How To Translate 20/20 DataShed article for more information.
Disclaimer
While we believe 20/20 DataShed conforms to Microsoft's recommended practices in regards to multi-lingual and international enrivonments, we cannot and do not make any gaurantees that 20/20 DataShed will work flawlessly in any language or cultural environment other than English (Canadian).
Operating 20/20 DataShed on a web server or in a language and/or culture which requires UTF-8 or UTF-16 Unicode standards and/or UCS (Universal Character Set) may produce unexpected results. For example, we at 20/20 Applications have followed the guidelines set forth by Microsoft to support international environments but the fact remains that we have limited experience with non-English languages and simply cannot foresee all the problems one may experience in non-English (specifically non-English Canadian) settings.
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