PowerBuilder Application Localization | Whitepaper
Introduction
In an increasingly interconnected world, adapting applications for the global market is essential. Localizing your PowerBuilder applications involves translating the user interface text and adapting your product to align with the cultural, legal, and linguistic nuances of each target market. This white paper delves into the importance of localization for international success and demonstrates how 'Enable for PowerBuilder' can transform this challenge into a strategic opportunity.
The Importance of Application Localization
Localizing an application extends far beyond mere translation of words. It involves adapting the application to local culture, customs, and regulations. A well-localized application significantly enhances its chances of success in a new market by being perceived as designed specifically for local users.
Furthermore, localization can aid in adhering to country-specific legal and regulatory requirements, thereby mitigating potential sanctions or restrictions. For companies operating in multiple countries with distributed teams, localization also enhances productivity. It enables all employees, regardless of their geographical location, to effectively utilize the same tools and systems in their local language. This facilitates internal communication, reduces misunderstandings, and enhances overall operational efficiency.
Localizing PowerBuilder Applications
PowerBuilder (PB) is a programming language and integrated development environment that has proven its worth since its creation in the early '90s. Primarily used for developing business management applications, PowerBuilder is particularly popular among large corporations, where applications often play a critical role in day-to-day operations.
Applications developed with PowerBuilder are characterized by their robustness and reliability, capable of handling large volumes of data and supporting complex business processes.
In technical terms, PowerBuilder uses an object-oriented programming language, which facilitates the creation of graphical user interfaces and database manipulation via its DataWindow interface, one of PowerBuilder's most powerful and distinctive features. This interface enables visual interaction with data, providing an efficient means of designing, retrieving, manipulating, and presenting data in a short space of time.
Hence, it would be counterproductive to deprive international users of the richness and functionality offered by PowerBuilder applications by overlooking their localization.
Technical Challenges of Localizing a PowerBuilder Application
Managing Localizable Resources
PowerBuilder applications can include many text strings embedded directly in the code or stored in resource files. Extracting and managing these strings for translation without disrupting program logic can be complex.
Support for Non-Latin Characters
Older PowerBuilder applications don't always use Unicode-compatible formats, which are essential for supporting languages with complex scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic.
User Interface Adaptation
User interfaces (UIs) created with PowerBuilder often need to be resized or reorganized to accommodate languages that occupy more or less space than the source language, requiring UI redesign to maintain a quality user experience.
Given these challenges, a specialized tool like 'Enable for PowerBuilder' can greatly simplify the localization process. This tool automates the extraction and management of localizable resources, ensuring that translation does not disrupt program logic. By ensuring application compatibility with international standards, 'Enable for PowerBuilder' guarantees efficient, high-quality localization, making it an indispensable asset for global market adaptation.
Introducing 'Enable' for PowerBuilder
Enable for PowerBuilder is a solution specifically designed to localize applications developed with PowerBuilder. This innovative solution helps companies overcome the technical challenges of localization while significantly reducing the time and costs associated with this essential process.
Key features
- Automated Resource Extraction
Enable integrates powerful tools that automate the extraction of text strings and other localizable resources directly from PowerBuilder. This feature ensures that nothing is overlooked due to human error. - Dynamic String Replacement
Dynamic String Replacement ‘Enable’ dynamically replaces strings while the application is running. Unlike traditional methods, which require repeated calls to resource files throughout the code, 'Enable' manages these substitutions centrally and automatically. There's no need to modify the code for each instance of the string to be translated, reducing the risk of errors and the maintenance burden. You just need to integrate the Enable engine with the application. - Full Unicode Support
'Enable' supports developers transitioning to Unicode (note that migration to a newer PowerBuilder version may still be required). This enables localization in any language, including those using complex scripts such as Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic. - Smart UI Resizing
'Enable' offers tools that make it easy to resize and adjust user interfaces to fit languages that require more space, such as German or Russian, all without the need for coding. - Support for Right-to-Left Layout (RTL)
For languages written right-to-left, such as Arabic and Hebrew, 'Enable' doesn't just translate the text. It also allows adapting the screen layout to respect the reading specificities of these languages, ensuring that the user interface remains intuitive and accessible to all users, whatever their linguistic context. - Integration into CI/CD workflows
Incorporating 'Enable' into CI/CD workflows optimizes the development and deployment process, enabling continuous extraction and minimizing localization delays. This integration ensures that new features and fixes are rapidly available in multiple languages, increasing user satisfaction and strengthening the overall presence of the application.
Benefits of Enable
- Speed to Market
By simplifying and automating the localization process, 'Enable for PowerBuilder' drastically reduces the time needed to prepare a PowerBuilder application for entry into new markets. - Reduced Costs
Thanks to its efficiency and automation, 'Enable' reduces localization costs, especially labor costs for repetitive and technical tasks. - Quality and Consistency
'Enable' automatically detects new sentences to be translated as soon as they appear in the PowerBuilder code. In some specific cases, it is impossible to detect the new sentences automatically, so Enable provides tools to find them. This system ensures that any text changes or additions are immediately recognized and marked for translation, supporting the developer to guarantee that nothing is omitted. This feature is essential for maintaining the consistency and quality of localization across different versions of the application. - Integration with PowerBuilder
Enable integrates seamlessly with PowerBuilder applications. Development teams can therefore adopt 'Enable' without modifying their business logic. - Runtime Translation Revisions
Translations can be revised at runtime by external users, such as distributors, customers, or translation teams, without requiring access to the source code. These revisions are retained until imported into the dictionary by the localization manager.
With 'Enable', localization becomes a natural extension of the PowerBuilder application development process, rather than a cumbersome and costly post-development task. By providing a solution specifically designed to meet the unique needs of PowerBuilder applications, 'Enable' ensures that companies can leverage their existing investments while exploiting new opportunities in the global marketplace.
Case Studies
Enable has successfully localized 150 of the biggest PowerBuilder applications in the world.
1. Industrial Company: International Expansion and Localization
As a leading industrial company specializing in heavy equipment manufacturing, the organization has witnessed exponential international growth. To support this expansion, it became imperative to ensure that its production management application, developed in PowerBuilder, was accessible to subsidiaries worldwide.
Employing the 'Enable' solution, the application was localized into several languages, including Mandarin and Spanish. This initiative not only guaranteed that employees in foreign subsidiaries could utilize the application in their native language but also brought about significant improvements in operational efficiency and internal communication. The return on investment became promptly evident, with increased productivity and a noticeable reduction in errors due to linguistic misunderstandings.
2. Public Administration: Adapting to Regulatory Requirements
A public administration needed to comply with regulatory changes requiring all applications to be accessible and usable by the entire population, including linguistic minorities. This posed the challenge of translating a public services application, originally developed in PowerBuilder, to accommodate several regional languages. The implementation of 'Enable' facilitated this transition, allowing for swift and accurate localization of interfaces. Not only did this assist the administration in meeting regulatory requirements, but it also led to enhancements in public service delivery. User feedback indicated a notable improvement in accessibility and comprehension of administrative procedures.
These case studies demonstrate how 'Enable' has successfully localized 150 of the biggest PowerBuilder applications worldwide, highlighting its effectiveness in various sectors. They confirm 'Enable' as a powerful localization solution that empowers PowerBuilder users to thrive globally by removing language barriers, expanding market reach, and gaining a competitive edge.