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Translations

The Language Translations feature allows administrators to manage multi-language support and customize specific terminology displayed across the user portal. Its primary purpose is to ensure that all user-facing text, labels, and system messages are accessible and align perfectly with your organization's local terminology (e.g., changing the word "ticket" to "citation"). This article is intended for OPS-COM administrators responsible for managing portal content and localization.

Setup and Configuration

This feature is a core administrative tool used to dictate the text displayed on the user-side portal.

Admin Side: Administrators must have the appropriate system role permissions enabled to manage language settings and edit translations.

  1. Hover over System Configuration, click Content & Designs, then Translations to access the Installed Languages page.

User Side: The translation configurations directly control the language options and specific wording available to end-users navigating the parking portal.

When reviewing the translation list in the backend, translations displayed in black text are active on the user side and can be freely changed. Translations displayed in red text are located on the admin side and are not currently supported for localization; they will remain in English until admin-side translations are fully supported.

Using this Feature

Administrators can use the following instructions to add new languages, create localized sub-languages, and manually edit specific terminology across the system.

Installing and Adding Languages

  • Install Default Languages: If base languages like English or French are available but not yet installed, you can install them directly to load a complete preset translation template with a defined Name and Locale.

  • Add Custom Languages: Click the Add Language button to bring up a modal. Enter a custom label and locale, then click Save Changes. The label identifies the translation throughout the site, while the locale is used for system identification.

  • Enable or Disable Languages: Toggle the switch under the Enabled column on the Installed Languages page. Disabling a language immediately removes it as a selectable option for end-users on the portal.

Adding Sub-Languages

Sub-languages allow you to support regional variations (e.g., American English vs. British English).

  1. Ensure the primary "main" language is already created and installed.

  2. Click the Add Language button.

  3. Enter the existing main locale, followed by an underscore _, and the sub-language identifier (e.g., entering en_us for American English).

  4. Click Save Changes. The sub-language will automatically inherit the translations set up on the main language.

Editing Translations and Terminology

The translator is not just for foreign languages; it is essentially a list of code terms and their corresponding display text, allowing you to easily replace local terminology (e.g., changing "ticket" to "citation" everywhere on the portal).

  1. Click Edit Translations next to a language.

  2. Enter a specific word or component (e.g., "permit" or "ticket") into the search bar at the top right to filter the list.

  3. Click the specific text box for the term you wish to modify and type in your preferred localized text.

  4. Click away from the input field. The translation will highlight in yellow to indicate an unsaved change, and the number of affected records will display at the bottom of the page.

  5. Click the Save Changes button to apply the text updates across the system.

Creating Templates and Messaging for New Languages

When you create a brand new custom language, it will not automatically rely on the default templates and system messaging set up for previous languages. They will appear blank until configured.

  1. Hover over System Configuration, click Content & Designs, then Templates & Design.

  2. Click Toggle Templates for the templates currently being used.

  3. Click the Create button to add the new template for your language, or click Edit on an existing language to copy its text over to the new one.

  4. Hover over System Configuration, click Content & Designs, then System Messages.

  5. Click the Edit button next to an individual message, select your new language, and type out the localized translation.

Best Practices and Considerations

  • Use the Token language for troubleshooting: Use the "Token" language on the user side to easily identify exactly where a translation exists so it can be changed. To do this securely, navigate to a user's profile on the admin side and click the Login as User button. Switching to the Token language reveals the backend code names for every text element on the screen. Regular users cannot access the Token language.

  • Establish the main language first: You must create the main language first before creating any related sub-languages. If the main locale is missing, the sub-language will fail to inherit the correct text and will default back to standard English.

  • Protect custom language data: Be aware that deleting a custom language permanently removes its data, requiring OPS-COM support to recover. While base languages like English and French can be easily re-installed, custom entries cannot. Note that deleting a main language will not delete its associated sub-languages.

  • Leverage bulk terminology updates: When editing terminology to fit local phrasing, update all instances of the word before saving. Searching for a term like "ticket" will pull up all translatable instances (e.g., Manage Ticket Categories, Pay Ticket). Editing them all at once ensures complete consistency across the user portal.

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