Localizing Helpdesk Configuration Parameters

Field labels and other text in Helpdesk Solution pages and dialogs can be displayed in different languages based on the local setting in the user's browser. The default language is English, and German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Arabic are available. When users with different language settings log in to Helpdesk, the Helpdesk screens appear in the language specified in their browser.

Configuration parameters, such as the Status Code pull down list, queue names, Close Codes, and the like, can also be localized for each language through the use of a CustomStrings.xml file.

Localizing Helpdesk Configuration Parameters

To localize configuration strings into different languages, you copy the CustomStrings.xml file into sub-directories for each language using the correct culture names.

To localize Helpdesk configuration parameters

1. Create a sub-directory under the custom directory for each language that you wish to support.
2. Name them using the 2 or 4 letter culture codes.
   The culture names follow the RFC 1766 standard in the format "<languagecode2>-<country/regioncode2>", where <languagecode2> is a lowercase two-letter code derived from ISO 639-1 and <country/regioncode2> is an uppercase two-letter code derived from ISO 3166. For example, U.S. English is "en-US". For a complete list, see the CultureInfo class at http://msdn.microsoft.com.
3. Copy the localized CustomStrings.xml files into each directory.
4. Restart IIS.

How Helpdesk Finds the Language to Use

The system tries to find the best language fit possible. A Swiss German CustomStrings.xml should be in the "de-CH" directory. A Germany German CustomStrings.xml file should be in the "de" subdirectory. If the browser settings are set to Swiss German, the "de-CH" subdirectory will be searched first for a match for the string id, then the "de" subdirectory, then the custom directory, then the Helpdesk and AppWeaver resources. In this way, string ids not found in the country or regioncode file will next be searched for in the languagecode file, and, if not found there, searched for in the (default) CustomStrings.xml file in the custom directory and finally in the (localized) Helpdesk resource files.

Adding New Strings

When you create new strings in Helpdesk, you need to add them to a custom resource library and then create versions of this library for each library that you want to support.

For example, let's say you defined a new status called "At home".

To add the new "At home" string

1. Create a file called CustomStrings.xml file in a folder called custom in the Heldesk\AeXHD folder.
2. Add the following code to that file:
   

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
     <strings>
       <string id="At home">At home</string>
     </strings>
   
   

3. Now, to add the Spanish version, create a folder called es in the custom folder.
4. Copy the CustomStrings.xml file to the es folder and change it so that it reads:
   

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
     <strings>
       <string id="At home">En casa</string>
     </strings>
   
   

   You can do this for every language you wish to support.

5. Finally add (or edit if you already have one) a custom.config file to the AeXHD folder which contains the following:
   

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
     <custom.configuration>
       <resourceLibs>
         <resourceLib file="CustomStrings.xml" path="~/custom/" appcache="yes"/>
       </resourceLibs>
     </custom.configuration>