Copy of OOTB Service Portal not translating

James Blight · ‎12-09-2017

Could not see this covered anywhere else.

Why is it that when a copy is taken of the OOTB Service Portal index page (using the Clone Page UI action), when previewed and the language is changed, a lot of the widgets do not translate.

E.g Taking a clone of index, and setting the language to French (I did add language picker to make it easier):

As you can see, the header has translated but the 'Homepage search' widget has not, not has the catalog, knowledge, incident record producer etc links

However with the OOTB page, they do:

Using the same widgets, cant see any messages on the sys_ui_messages table about the homepage search widget that require adjusting.

Seems a bit strange, as if its a copy I thought it would just use the same translated text/messages etc.

Regards

James

James Blight · ‎12-11-2017

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for the reply ctomasi

Unfortunately it is not related to the preview, this was happening with the normal URL.

But fortunately I worked around this earlier today.

Steps below for anyone who finds this thread and has the same issue:

1. Changing my own language preference (as admin about to make some changes) to the desired one, in this case Polish.

2. Opening Service Portal > Service Portal Configuration > Portal Designer > page with the non translated widgets (mostly by button memory, as I do not speak Polish )

3. Selecting the widget to translate, using the amendment (pencil) on the widget and changing the title and description from English to the translated version.

Example screenshot below of the 'Get Help' icon link about to be translated, when language preference was French:

4. Once saved the amended widget(s) will show the translated version to users where their language preference is Polish (or whichever language mine/yours was at the time the change was made), but leave the original version as English (or whatever the default was).

What it is actually doing in the background from this action is creating records on the Translated Text [sys_translated_text] table, so if a lot are required they could be generated/imported directly there. Obligatory screenshot:

5. As an addition, I noticed the 'typeahead search' in the 'How can we help?' search field had also not translated and the entry on the sys_translated_text table was not being used as...to cut a longer story short...the widget's code was not setup to read it. However by putting {title: '${How can we help?}', size: 'lg', color:'default'} in the typeahead field of the widget, it finds the translated text (careful with the spacing/syntax):

The confusing part for me was why the above was not required for the OOTB widgets, as I could see no entries on the tables but assume this must be as the cloned version is using an instance of the widget perhaps as oppose to OOTB being the original.

Anyway, hope this is of help to someone.

Regards

James

View solution in original post

James Blight · ‎03-16-2019

Hi SNOW@Das,

Just saw your reply.

The easiest way, without going into the translation tables is to:

1. Change your language - if you do not know the selected language enough to navigate, you can navigate by remembering which button is located where (helps to have another 'incognito' browser open or another instance)

2. Navigate to Service Portal > Service Portal Configuration

3. Select Designer and find the page your widget is on.

4. For the widget you wish to translate, highlight and use the pencil icon at the top right of the widget.

5. Once the widget is open, you will likely see things like the title and short description are in English/platform language, despite you selected language being something else, e.g. French. Replace these with the text for the selected languages version, and save. In the background the entry for that language will be put on the relevant table.

This looks to be the procedure I was doing in the screenshots above.

A slightly quicker way is to already have the page open in your own language, switch language and refresh the page.

Another issue you may find is that the widget has no option to change whatever it is you want to be changed into the new language.

So you may need to go to Service Portal > Service Portal Configuration > Page Editor, select the element/widget and change there (think I had to with a couple of mine)

There are other ways to do this by making changes on the translation tables. Once you are comfortable with the above and know what is going on, making the changes directly on the sys_translated_text or sys_ui_message table is quickest, if you have a few to do.

Also bear in mind some widgets (especially any custom ones) will need to be enabled to 'go fetch' a translation.

An example of this is in the post above where I said 'However by putting {title: '${How can we help?}', size: 'lg', color:'default'} in the typeahead field of the widget, it finds the translated text (careful with the spacing/syntax)'

Have a look at this link on the docs: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/london-servicenow-platform/page/build/service-portal/concept/c_WidgetLocalization.html

Regards

James