Internationalization and Localization
The OIPA application may be adapted to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a particular target market through rules configuration. A configured OIPA-based solution is capable of supporting multiple locales and users of different languages by allowing the co-existence of several languages within the user interface. Configuring a locale and, therefore, adding support for a language though rules, does not require re-engineering or changing system's code.
The system also provides the ability to:
- Translate the content between languages
- Store and display content in multiple languages
- Use regional formats for dates, numbers, and calendars to enter dates
- Display and enter names and addresses in forms native for supported locales
- Handle multiple currencies
- Store country and jurisdiction information that could be used for tax and other purposes
- Allow further customization through configurable extensions to satisfy client-specific localization requirements
The most important internationalization and localization features of the OIPA application are:
- OIPA localization is based on the locale of the current user. A number of locales exist in a configured OIPA system and determine which language, translations, date and number format, and so on, will be used when displaying the user interface for a user.
- Data in OIPA are represented in Unicode, the industry standard for the consistent encoding, representing and handling of text data in most languages.
- Data is stored in the database using multi-byte character types.
- Text data displayed on the screen come through a translation layer (with the exception of text entered by users) where the translation is performed based on the locale of the user. The translation is applied to configured text data, validation and error messages, field labels, and so on.
- OIPA uses Java parsing and formatting facilities to support locale-based formatting of dates and numbers. This "out-of-the-box" formatting can be enhanced or even overridden to satisfy the most diverse customer requirements.
- OIPA has an extensive support for using multiple currencies.
- OIPA allows configuration of the name and address displays to be customized based on the needs of a particular region.
Configuration of locales, translations, screen rules, and so on, is performed by using the Oracle Insurance Rules Palette.