Localization
The Commerce Server Business Desk Framework and the Business Desk modules that are delivered with Commerce Server 2000 have been developed in a way that helps to minimize the cost of translating Business Desk into foreign languages. Depending on the circumstances in which a new Business Desk module is being developed, it might be wise for you to adopt the same general guidelines followed by Microsoft developers.
The following list enumerates these guidelines:
Navigation should tend to be located at the left and top of the page.
Horizontal groupings of controls (other than task buttons) should be avoided so that the typical expansion associated with localization does not disrupt the display.
The proper codepage and response charset should be specified in two specific Business Desk include files that are included by all pages. Normal module pages that display HTML in the content pane should be modified to use the proper codepage in the include file BDHeader.asp. Module fetch pages, which are designed to return nothing except XML, should be modified to use the proper codepage in the include file BDXMLHeader.asp.
Each module should have a file called "*<ModuleName>*Strings.asp" in which localizable strings are defined as VB Script constants. Any action page that needs to display one of these strings should include the file and reference the string using its constant name. Hard coded strings should be avoided.
Building strings from sub-strings should be avoided because the subject/verb/object order can vary from language to language. Where appropriate, the framework routine sFormatString should be used to ease localization efforts.
Allow extra space in forms for the string expansion that typically occurs during localization.
Do not use images with text in them.
Do not display SQL column names, which will not be localized, on an action page. Other mechanisms exist for supplying display names.
Do not display partial file names as part of other messages.