Translate messages

A globalized application should not have any language-specific text within the application code.

This language-specific text includes the following kinds of strings:

Strings that the application displays or writes
Examples include error messages, informational messages, menu items, and button labels.
Strings that the application uses internally
Examples include constants, file names, and literal characters or strings.
Strings that an user is expected to enter
Examples include yes and no responses.

Tip: You do not need to put SQL keywords (such as SELECT, WHERE, INSERT, and CREATE) in a message file. In addition, language keywords (such as if, switch, for, and char) do not need to appear in a message file.

In a globalized application, these strings appear as references to external files, called resource files or message files. To localize these strings of the database application, you must perform the following tasks:

Translate all strings within the external files.
The new external files contain the translated versions of the strings that the application uses.
Set the DBLANG environment variable to the subdirectory within INFORMIXDIR that contains the translated message files that the HCL OneDB™ products use.
The INFORMIXDIR environment variable indicates the location where the HCL OneDB products are installed. You can use the rgetmsg( ) and rgetlmsg( ) functions to obtain HCL OneDB product messages. For more information about these functions, see the HCL OneDB ESQL/C Programmer's Manual.