Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Application Server:
Developing AppServer Applications

Multi-language support

OpenEdge supports multi-language (for example, French and German) applications through use of the CURRENT-LANGUAGE statement and function. You can use this Progress 4GL support in AppServer procedures to coordinate different languages between the client and AppServer agent. In stateless or state-free operating mode, you must use the activate procedure to set the correct language for each client request.

If you do write a multi-language application, you must ensure that the client and your server-side code handle the following features in a compatible fashion:

Collation — If the AppServer agent and client use different collations, the client might need to re-sort output TEMP-TABLE or result set parameters. A Progress 4GL client can do this by defining its own index on the appropriate columns.
Date and number formats (-d and -E startup parameters) — To minimize any problems using different date and number formats, always exchange dates as a Progress 4GL DATE values and exchange numeric fields as Progress 4GL INTEGER or DECIMAL values, rather than as character strings.
Case rules (such as in BASIC and French) — Based on the anticipated language environment, you can specify tables at AppServer startup (using the -cpcase startup parameter) that the AppServer agent uses to handle case conversions.
Year offset (-yy startup parameter) — Using the Century (-yy) startup parameter, you can ensure that the AppServer agent calculates dates based on a specified hundred-year period that is compatible with the client.

For more information on using the CURRENT-LANGUAGE statement and function in a Progress 4GL session, see OpenEdge Development: Internationalizing Applications .