10.12.13.�Locales

10.12.13.1. Locale

Locales provide a mechanism for defining certain display formats based on linguistic and cultural conventions. For example, the manner in which currency, date, and Price formats are displayed is controlled by Locale settings. In addition to controlling display formats, Locales also govern the formatting found in printed reports.

The application supports multiple Locales—a useful feature for multinational companies with a wide range of international users. To illustrate, a user assigned a "USEnglish" Locale setting will see dates displayed as "MM/DD/YY". By contrast, another user assigned a "French" Locale setting will see dates displayed as "DD/MM/YY".

Note

There is a difference between Locale settings and the data entry formats used to store data in an database. Locale settings control the manner in which data is displayed on screen within the application. Data entry formats control the format of data stored in the database.

The following two tables illustrate a range of Locale formats available for both time/date and numeric fields. The table describes valid date/time formats. These formats would apply to any fields displaying dates, times, or timestamps.

Note

In most instances, the system will accept either upper case or lower case characters for the majority of date, time, and numeric formats.

Table�10.1.�Date & Time Formats

Date/Time Format	Description
HH	Hour of day (01-12)
HH12	hour of day (01-12)
HH24	hour of day (00-23)
MI	minute (00-59)
SS	second (00-59)
MS	Millisecond (000-999)
US	microsecond (000000-999999)
SSSS	seconds past midnight (0-86399)
AM or A.M. or PM or P.M.	Meridian indicator
Y,YYY	Year (4 digits with comma)
YYYY	Year (4 digits no comma)
YYY	Last 3 digits of year
YY	Last 2 digits of year
Y	Last digit of year
BC or B.C. or AD or A.D.	Era indicator
MONTH	Month name. Supports mixed case (e.g., Month)
MON	Abbreviated month name. Supports mixed case (e.g., Mon)
MM	Month number (01-12)
DAY	Day name. Supports mixed case (e.g., Day)
DY	Abbreviated day name. Supports mixed case (e.g., Dy)
DDD	Day of year (001-366)
DD	Day of month (01-31)
D	Day of week (1-7; Sunday=1)
W	Week of month (1-5) where first week starts on the first day of the month
WW	Week number of year (1-53) where first week starts on the first day of the year
IW	ISO week number of year (The first Thursday of the new year is in week 1.)
CC	Century (2 digits)
J	Julian Day (days since January 1, 4712 BC)
Q	Quarter
RM	Month in Roman Numerals (I-XII; I=January)
TZ	Time zone name

The numeric formats shown in the table would apply to any fields displaying quantity, quantity per, Cost, currency, Price, or Extended Price information.

Note

Locale fields featuring numeric values are required to contain a minimum of nine characters to the left of the decimal point.

Table�10.2.�Numeric Formats

Transaction Type Code	Description
9	Value with the specified number of digits
0	Value with leading zeros
. (period)	Decimal point
, (comma)	Group (thousand) separator
S	Plus sign (+) at front of value
PL	Plus sign (+) in specified position
D	Decimal point
G	Group separator
L	Dollar sign ($) in specified position

To access the master list of Locales, select the "Locales" option. The following screen will appear:

Locales Master List

The "Locales" screen displays information on all existing Locales, including Locale name and Locale description.

To the far right of the screen, the following buttons are available:

CLOSE: Closes the screen, returning you to the application desktop.
NEW: Opens screen for creating a new Locale.
EDIT: Enables you to edit highlighted Locale definitions. The edit screen is the same as that for creating a new Locale definition—except that when editing, the fields will contain Locale information. Double-clicking on a Locale master will also bring you to the editing screen.
COPY: Highlight a Locale and then select this button to reach a screen for copying the Locale's definition.
DELETE: Highlight a Locale definition and then select this button to remove the Locale from the list.

10.12.13.1.�Locale

To create a new Locale, select the NEW button. The following screen will appear:

Create New Locale

Note

Locale settings only control the output displays of data—both printed and on-screen. They do not control the application's data entry formats.

When creating a new Locale, you are presented with the following options:

Code: Enter a code to uniquely identify the specified Locale setting. This code is referenced in the Maintain Users section, where Locales are associated with individual users.
Description: Enter a brief description to further define the specified Locale.
Language: Specify the name of the translation file required by the Locale, if a non-default translation file is being used. The system supports multi-lingual translations of the product interface through the use of .QM files. Use this field to point to the appropriate .QM file (i.e., translation file), which should be located in the same directory as your xTuple executable file. When referring to the translation file here, you do not need to include the .QM file extension. So, for example, if your translation file is called "OpenMFG.spanish.qm," you would enter "OpenMFG.spanish" in this field. Leave the field blank if you are using the default xTuple Locale, which is English.
Date Format: The date format is used to display date fields within the application.
Time Format: The time format is used to display any time-related data within the application.
Timestamp Format: The timestamp format is used to display any "timestamp" data within the application. Timestamps are typically used in transaction logs that record the specific date and time when an activity occurs within the system.
Interval Format: The interval format is used to define how Work Order clock-in/clock-out times and effort are displayed.
Currency Format: The currency format is used to display any currency data within the application.
Sales Price Format: The sales Price format is used to display any sales Price data within the application.
Purch. Price Format: The purchase Price format is used to display any purchase Price data within the application.
Ext. Price Format: The Extended Price format is used to display any Extended Price data within the application.
Cost Format: The Cost format is used to display costing data within the application.
Qty. Format: The quantity format is used to display quantity data within the application.
Qty. Per Format: The quantity per format is used to display quantities per within the application.
UOM Ratio: The Unit of Measure ratio format is used to display Unit of Measure ratios within the application.
Sample: Sample data will display in this column, based on the data formats specified in the corresponding fields.
Comments: This is a scrolling text field with word-wrapping for entering Comments related to the Locale.

To the far right of the screen, the following buttons are available:

CANCEL: Closes the screen, returning you to the previous screen.
SAVE: Creates the Locale setting and adds it to the master list of Locales.