What is XLIFF File?
XLIFF is the XML Localization Interchange File Format. It is the standard format used by localization providers.
When you extract the translatable strings for a catalog or template translation, Oracle BI Publisher creates an XLIFF file that contains the strings. You can translate these strings or send the file to a localization provider. You then upload the translated XLIFF file back to the catalog or the individual layout and assign it the appropriate locale.
How to use an XLIFF (.xlf) file
for translation
In this example, We will use an XLIFF file that can be used to translate the Balance Letter.rtf base template file from English to German at run time.
This file is located in the My Templates and Files folder.
Window Navigation:
Select Start >Programs >Oracle BIP Desktop >Samples >RTF Templates.
Log in to Oracle BI Publisher.
Navigate to the desired report which need to be translated or you can refer sample report Balance Letter located in \Shared Folders\Sample Lite\Published Reporting\Reports.
Click Open.
The report is displayed. Edit it to select the default RTF template.
The template editor window displays the Translations table. In the Translations table, click Upload.
The Upload Template File dialog box appears. Browse to locate the translation file. Navigate to My Templates and Files, and open Translation German.xlf.
Select German (Germany) as the Locale..
The translation file appears in the Translations table
Click Save and then click Return.
How to validate & test the translation file.
- On the Oracle BIEE home page, click My Account. The My Account dialog box is displayed.
- Click the BI Publisher Preferences tab and change Report Locale to Deutsch – Deutschland.
- Click OK.
From the Catalog page, navigate to your Balance Letter and click Open to run the report.
The report appears in your browser window. Observe that the content is translated into German.
Navigate back to My Account.
Change the BI Publisher Report Locale back to English – United States. Click OK.
Verify once again that your default language is English by running the Balance Letter report again
Note: you can download Oracle BI Publisher desktop tool to create and validate translation files.
Important: Regardless of which option you choose, you must name your translated templates according to the naming standard for BI Publisher to recognize it at runtime. See Naming Standards for Translated Files. The following diagrams illustrate the translation concepts Using the XLIFF Option To generate an XLIFF file from an RTF template Open your template in Microsoft Word with the Template Builder for Word installed.
When an RTF template if created using MS Word, this RTF is translated to XLIFF so that the template is local agnostic i.e. XLIFF is a standard format provided by localization providers.