11 APEX_LANG

You can use APEX_LANG API to translate messages.

Topics in this section include:

LANG Function

This function is used to return a translated text string for translations defined in dynamic translations.

Syntax

APEX_LANG.LANG (
    p_primary_text_string IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p0 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p1 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p2 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    ...
    p9 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p_primary_language IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL)
RETURN VARCHAR2;

Parameters

Table 11-1 describes the parameters available in the APEX_LANG.LANG function.

Table 11-1 LANG Parameters

Parameter Description

p_primary_text_string

Text string of the primary language. This will be the value of the Translate From Text in the dynamic translation.

p_p0 through p_p9

Dynamic substitution value: p0 corresponds to 0% in the translation string; p1 corresponds to 1% in the translation string; p2 corresponds to 2% in the translation string, and so on.

p_primary_language

Language code for the message to be retrieved. If not specified, Oracle Application Express uses the current language for the user as defined in the Application Language Derived From attribute.

See also: Specifying the Primary Language for an Application in the Oracle Application Express Application Builder User's Guide.

Example

Suppose you have a table that defines all primary colors. You could define a dynamic message for each color and then apply the LANG function to the defined values in a query. For example:

SELECT APEX_LANG.LANG(color)
FROM my_colors

If you were running the application in German, RED was a value for the color column in the my_colors table, and you defined the German word for red, the previous example would return ROT.

MESSAGE Function

Use this function to translate text strings (or messages) generated from PL/SQL stored procedures, functions, triggers, packaged procedures, and functions.

Syntax

APEX_LANG.MESSAGE (
    p_name IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p0 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p1 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p2 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    ...
    p9 IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,
    p_lang IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL)
RETURN VARCHAR2;

Parameters

Table 11-2 describes the parameters available in the APEX_LANG.MESSAGE function.

Table 11-2 MESSAGE Parameters

Parameter Description

p_name

Name of the message as defined in Shared Components > Text Messages of your application in Oracle Application Express.

p_p0 through p_p9

Dynamic substitution value: p0 corresponds to 0% in the translation string; p1 corresponds to 1% in the translation string; p2 corresponds to 2% in the translation string, and so on.

p_lang

Language code for the message to be retrieved. If not specified, Oracle Application Express uses the current language for the user as defined in the Application Language Derived From attribute.

See also: Specifying the Primary Language for an Application in the Oracle Application Express Application Builder User's Guide.

Example

The following example assumes you have defined a message called GREETING_MSG in your application in English as Good morning%0 and in German as Guten Tag%1. The following example demonstrates how you could invoke this message from PL/SQL:

BEGIN
---- Print the greeting
--
APEX_LANG.MESSAGE('GREETING_MSG', V('APP_USER'));
END;

How the p_lang attribute is defined depends on how the Application Express engine derives the Application Primary Language. For example, if you are running the application in German and the previous call is made to the APEX_LANG.MESSAGE API, the Application Express engine first looks for a message called GREETING_MSG with a LANG_CODE of de. If it does not find anything, then it will revert to the Application Primary Language attribute. If it still does not find anything, the Application Express engine looks for a message by this name with a language code of en-us.

See also:

Specifying the Primary Language for an Application in the Oracle Application Express Application Builder User's Guide.