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Multilingual runtime resources (.lng)

This release introduces a new mechanism for handling multilingual resources in the following runtime modules:

Currently, the following runtime module does NOT support multilingual resources:

  • PowerServer Web APIs

    The messages returned from PowerServer Web APIs will display in English (for EN version) or Japanese (for JP version).

How to support multilingual resources in PowerBuilder runtime files

Text resources previously embedded directly in runtime DLLs are now separated into independent .lng language package files, enabling runtime language switching and simplified localization without recompiling the runtime.

  • Each supported language is stored in a dedicated .lng file (e.g., english.lng, french.lng), in the runtime language folder, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Appeon\Common\PowerBuilder\Runtime [version]\lang.

    Supported languages include English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish.

  • To manually deploy the language file, make sure to copy the lang folder, and make sure the lang folder contains the english.lng file and other required language files.

    Note that at least english.lng (for EN version) or japanese.lng (for JP version) must be existing for proper runtime display.

    If the application fails to load any language files at runtime, some resources will not display properly, for example, text in system dialogs may not display, and some message boxes may display "Message xxx not in resources file".

  • To use the user-defined language file, name the file as custom.lng and place it in the lang folder.

    By default, a custom.lng file is already provided in the lang folder and initially contains the same content as english.lng and text resources of launcher installer (Text ID starting with "IDS_INSTALLER_CAL_").

    The file content format is Text ID, Text Description. Keep the text IDs unchanged; edit only the text descriptions.

    Back up the custom.lng file before editing its content.

    Only one custom language file is allowed.

How to package the language file

The PowerBuilder Runtime Packager allows you to select which language packages to include in the deployment. For the English version, English is always selected and cannot be deselected (for the Japanese version, Japanese is mandatory).

How to programmatically set language

The developer can set or query the current runtime language programmatically using SetLanguage and GetLanguage.

Language changes will take effect immediately after the SetLanguage function is executed.

If the specified language type or file is invalid, the runtime language falls back to English (for EN version) or Japanese (for JP version).

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