From: "babbu cathy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Is it possible to create an application in Palm OS for
> supporting of some other languages(Japanese or German
> or French,...) than English?
> 
There are a couple of approaches.  Palm OS supports localisation
(see the Palm OS Companion section on localisation).  This basicly
works by copying your resources, modifying them for other 
languages and tagging them with the language they are for.  This is
all you need and is quite straight-forward for the european languages
 - I'm not sure if the localisation supports asian languages, but 
even if it does just modifying the resources and writing your code
becomes more complex because you move into multi-byte
characters.

This approach interacts automatically with the locale in the Palm 
device to show the language the user has chosen but, although
this is handy, means that it isn't always the best answer.  I've had
clients who wanted their customers to be able to change languages
on the fly and for that you'll have to manage langauge selection
and possibly resource loading on your own.  I wrote a simple 
mechanism that stored multiple copies of the bitmaps and string
resources and loaded the appropriate one depending on the 
language the user selected.  

The other problem with localisation that this overcomes is that
localisation turns your app into two files - the prc and a set
of locale overlays.  This works fine if it's all in ROM (which is
how PalmSource distribute their apps) but can be a hassle
for downloaded apps where end users will be doing the install.

There are also commercial localisation frameworks.  These are
powerful and expensive.  If you can afford them they will save
your project money in the long term but there can be quite a
financial hit to pick them  up.

As an aside - the SDK used to have a spreadsheet buried 
somewhere wityh european translations of the standard Palm OS
text.  Useful if you're doing internationalisation yourself on the
cheap.

Chris Tutty

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