Localizing Service Catalog items, bundles, and categories

A Service Catalog manager can localize a catalog item, category, and bundle. The Service Catalog localization wizard enables a catalog manager to view and localize the name, descriptions (short and long), and user options in any of the languages Service Manager supports for catalog items and bundles. The localization wizard also enables a Service Catalog manager to localize the name and descriptions (short and long) for a Service Catalog category.

To localize a Service Catalog item, bundle, or category the Service Catalog manager should first log on to the system in English and then use the localization wizard to localize items, bundles, and categories.

If you have a large number of Service Catalog records to localize or you want you use an external service to localize your data, use the import/export functions to create text files and then import the translated files into Service Manager. You can also export data to Excel using the functions available in Service Manager.

The parameter, language:utf8, in the Service Manager initialization file ( sm.ini) is required to Import and Export catalog items. The best practice is to localize all data to the desired language before a user starts using the Service Catalog.

Viewing localized catalog items

In the Service Catalog, catalog managers are able to search for and view a list of catalog items in any of the languages supported by the system. From this list of records, managers can export the data for localization by using the Export/Unload functionality. Managers can also use this view to update any of the details of the record. This view is also useful for identifying those item records that need to be localized and verifying that the localized records will display correctly to end users.

View localized Service Catalog items

1. Click Service Catalog > Localized Items.
2. Select the language you want to use to search.
3. If you are searching for a particular item, provide the additional search parameters to limit your search.
4. Click Search.
5. Click the catalog record to view the record details for the item.
6. You can use the detail record to update any of the details on the record currently being displayed.
   

Localize a Service Catalog item

1. Click Service Catalog > Manage Items.
2. Click Search or use the Search Catalog Items Definition form to search for a specific item record.
3. Select an item record.
4. From the detail list toolbar of the selected record, click More or the More Actions icon, and then click Localize this record.
5. Select the language to use for localization.
6. Click Next.
7. Specify the localization data for the catalog item.

   Field	Description
   Display Name	The is the localized name of the item.
   Short Description	This is the localized description from the catalog definition that displays to the user.
   Long Description	This is the localized detailed description from the catalog definition that displays to the user.
   Form Instructions	These are any form instructions defined by the catalog item definition.
   Options	This field has XML that represents the user options defined for the item in the catalog definition. For example, here is XML for an item with a single check box option: <form><check box id="XYZ" label="This is a label"/></form>. The label text enclosed in quotes (" ") should be localized.

8. Click Finish.
9. Continue to localize by selecting another item record or exit by clicking OK and then Back.

Note

A user selection in a Service Catalog item may have different renderings under different conditions. It may be visible in one language but invisible in another. To achieve this, you can set different Dynamic Field Validations (such as Mandatory Condition and Visible Condition) to this user selection in a certain language and then localize this Service Catalog item to other languages. For example, to make a user option visible in English and French only, set the Visible Condition to ($G.my.language isin {"en","fr"}) in English before localization.

We don't suggest updating Dynamic Field Validations of a user option after you localize a Service Catalog item because this may break the data consistency across different languages. To set different conditions to a user selection in different languages, we strongly recommend you to set the Dynamic Field Validations for all languages in the same user option before localizing a Service Catalog item.

Localize a Service Catalog bundle

1. Click Service Catalog > Manage Items.
2. Click Search or use the Search Catalog Items Definition form to search for a specific bundle record.
3. Select a bundle record.
4. From the detail list toolbar of the selected record, click More or the More Actions icon, and then click Localize this record.
5. Select the language to use for localization.
6. Click Next.
7. Specify the localization data for the bundle.

   Field	Description
   Display Name	The is the localized name of the bundle.
   Short Description	This is the localized description from the catalog definition that displays to the user.
   Long Description	This is the localized detailed description from the catalog definition that displays to the user.
   Form Instructions	These are any form instructions defined by the catalog bundle definition.
   Options	This field has XML that represents the user options defined for the item in the catalog definition. For example, here is XML for an item with a single check box option: <form><check box id="XYZ" label="This is a label"/></form>. The text enclosed in quotes (" ") should be localized.

8. Click Finish.
9. Continue to localize by selecting another bundle record or exit by clicking OK and then Back.

Localize a Service Catalog category

1. Click Service Catalog > Manage Items.
2. Click Search or use the Search Catalog Items Definition form to search for a specific category record.
3. Select a category record.
4. From the detail list toolbar of the selected record, click More or the More Actions icon, and then click Localize this record.
5. Select the language to use for localization.
6. Click Next.
7. Specify the localization data for the bundle.

   Field	Description
   Display Name	The is the localized name of the category.
   Short Description	This is the localized description from the catalog definition that displays to the user.
   Long Description	This is the localized detailed description from the catalog definition that displays to the user.

8. Click Finish.
9. Continue to localize by selecting another category record or exit by clicking OK and then Back.

Using export and import for localization

When you have large number of items to localize it the Service Catalog you can use the export and import capabilities of Service Manager to create a text file or Excel file. You can then edit the file or provide it to a translation service for localizing. For additional information about exporting and importing files see the related topics.

When using export and import consider the following:

• When you generate the list of records to export, be sure to include key fields (the name field and syslanguage, for example) and all of those fields you intend to localize (description, display name, detailed description).
• The language parameter is the language code defined by the language identifier in the language table. You need to have SysAdmin access to view the language table in the database.
• Select characters as delimiters that are not found in the data you are exporting. For example use ^^ as delimiters instead of tabs, commas, or spaces.
• Use a UTF-8 compliant text editor such as Textpad for a text file.
• When you import the translated file, use the same delimiter you used when exporting. and .
• Define the same fields and in the correct order in the import wizard to match the exported fields and field order.