Note: The instructions described here applies to openIMIS version 1.3.0 and later.
In language translation section, we have added another language to the Web Application as a resource file. However, you cannot use the new language unless you add this language as an option in the database. In addition to this, you will need to customise and translate the dropdown lists to have a completely translated version of openIMIS.
Customisation and translation of the dropdown list
Before configuring the available languages in openIMIS, lets first add the translation for the different dropdown list. openIMIS is using dropdown lists in both Web Application and mobile applications to allow users to modify entities attributes.
The following tables contain dropdown translations:
| Table name | Entity attribute | Default values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| tblEducations | Insuree.Education |
| The level of education of the insuree. |
| tblFamilyTypes | Family.Type |
| The type of family. |
| tblGender | Insuree.Gender |
| The gender of the insuree. |
| tblHFSublevel | HealthFacility.SubLevel |
| The sub-level of a health facility. Level are: Dispensary Health Center Hospital |
| tblIdentificationTypes | Insuree.IdentificationType |
| The type of identification document the insuree provided during the enrolment process. |
| tblLegalForms | HealthFacility.LegalForm |
| The legal form of the health facility. |
| tblPayerType | Payer.Type |
| The type of payer. A payer can pay the contribution for a family or group. |
| tblProfessions | Insuree.Profession |
| The profession of the insuree. |
| tblRelations | Insuree.Relationship |
| The relationship of the insuree to the head of the insured family. |
For example, the Education dropdown list from the Web Application's Add Family form allows to chose the family head's level of education.
There are two advantages of having the dropdown list options in the database:
it is easier to translate without publishing again the applications
it is easier to add or remove options based on the scheme/implementation/country requirements
The downside of this is the limit to the number of languages that can be supported. All dropdown translation tables have the following structure:
| Column Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
Id | smallint | The identifier of the dropdown option |
| FirstLanguageTerm | nvarchar(50) | The dropdown option term in the first language (English by default) |
| SortOrder | int | Position of the option in the dropdown |
| AltLanguage | nvarchar(50) | The dropdown option term in the alternative/second language (French by default) |
This structure allows only two languages to be used in openIMIS. For example, in Tanzania, the two languages are English and Swahili.
Because the available dropdown options depend on the scheme/implementation/country requirements, the customisation of the dropdown lists is part of the scheme configuration.
Language selection configuration
The available languages that can be selected in the Web Application and mobile applications are configured in the tblLanguages table in the openIMIS database. As we have seen in the previous section, the dropdown translation tables are limiting the number of available languages to two.
In case you added another language in the Web Application source code, you will need to replace here one language with the new one (usually second language).
The following structure is presented in the languages table:
| Column Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
LanguageCode | nvarchar(5) | The identifier of the language. |
| LanguageName | nvarchar(50) | The language name that will be displayed in Web and Mobile Applications |
| SortOrder | int | Position of the option in the language selection dropdown |
Please pay attention to the LanguageCode. It represents language code used for the Web Application resource files (e.g. Resource.fr.resx). If you use Lokalise, the code is represented by the %LANG_ISO% code of the translation language (fr_CM for the Cameroon example). The length of the LanguageCode has been updated in October 2019 release to allow ISO 639 and ISO 3166 coding (e.g. fr_FR).