How to translate a String field value globally without using Translated Text per record?

[SHWA]

Hi everyone,

I'm working with a table that has a field called "Name", and I want this field to support translations based on the user's language settings.

I tried changing the field type to Translated Text, but as you know, that requires a separate translation record for each individual record, which is not suitable for my use case.

What I want to achieve is:

• When the field value is "Accounting", it should be displayed as "経理" (in Japanese) regardless of which record it appears in.

• A centralized translation mechanism that allows a single translation for a value like "Accounting" to apply globally across all records.

• I found that Translated Field seems to offer this kind of behavior, as it's used for system fields. However, I cannot select "Translated Field" as a field type in the dictionary entry for this field.

So my questions are:

1. Is there a way to use or enable the Translated Field type for fields in general tables?

2. If not, what is the recommended way to globally translate static field values like "Accounting" → "経理" without using record-specific translation entries?

Currently, I’m considering using gs.getMessage() with keys managed in sys_ui_message, but I’d appreciate any suggestions or best practices from the community.

Thanks in advance!

[Mark Manders]

Reconsider if this really should be a string field, because that would mean that you need some sort of dynamic translation functionality to automate it. It's also confusing, since you state it's a string field (which can be anything) and later you mention that you want to translate static field values. Strings aren't static.