Working with Translations (SSAS)
Multilanguage support in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) is accomplished by using translations. A translation contains a language identifier and bindings for properties of Analysis Services objects which can be presented in multiple languages. For example, you can define a translation for an Analysis Services database to present the caption and description of that database in a specified language. For more information about translations, see Cube Translations.
Defining Translations
You can define translations in Business Intelligence Development Studio by using the appropriate designer for the Analysis Services object to be translated. Defining a translation creates a Translation object associated with the appropriate Analysis Services object that has the specified explicit literal values, in the specified language, for the properties of the associated Analysis Services object.
The following objects and properties in Analysis Services can have translations associated with them:
| Object | Properties | Designer |
|---|---|---|
Database |
Caption, Description |
|
Cube |
Caption, Description |
|
Measure group |
Caption |
|
Measure |
Caption, DisplayFolder |
|
Cube dimension |
Caption |
|
Perspective |
Caption |
|
Key performance indicator (KPI) |
Caption, Description, DisplayFolder |
|
Action |
Caption |
|
Named set |
Caption |
|
Calculated member |
Caption |
|
Database dimension |
Caption, AttributeAllMember |
|
Attribute |
Caption, CaptionColumn1, AttributeHierarchyDisplayFolder, NamingTemplate, MembersWithDataCaption |
|
Hierarchy |
Caption, AllMemberName |
|
Level |
Caption |
1 The CaptionColumn property of an attribute can be bound to a column in a data source view and can use a Windows collation other than that specified for the instance, unlike other translations.
Defining Attribute Translations
Translations associated with attributes in database dimensions are handled differently than other translations in the following ways:
- A column binding, instead of an explicit literal value, can be associated with the CaptionColumn property so that the member names of members for that attribute can be translated.
- A Windows collation other than the collation specified for the instance can be used so that members in the attribute can be appropriately sorted for the language specified in the translation.
You can use the Attribute Data Translation dialog box in Business Intelligence Development Studio to define translations for attributes in database dimensions. For more information about the Attribute Data Translation dialog box, see Attribute Data Translation Dialog Box (SSAS).
Resolving Translations
If a client application requests information in a specified language identifier, the Analysis Services instance attempts to resolve data and metadata for Analysis Services objects to the closest possible language identifier. If the client application does not specify a default language, or specifies the neutral locale identifier (0) or process default language identifier (1024), then Analysis Services uses the default language for the instance to return data and metadata for Analysis Services objects.
If the client application specifies a language identifier other than the default language identifier, the instance iterates through all available translations for all available objects. If the specified language identifier matches the language identifier of a translation, Analysis Services returns that translation. If a match cannot be found, Analysis Services attempts to use one of the following methods to return translations with a language identifier closest to the specified language identifier:
For the following language identifiers, Analysis Services attempts to use an alternate language identifier if a translation for the specified language identifier is not defined:
Specified language identifier Alternate language identifier 3076 - Chinese (Hong Kong SAR, PRC)
1028 - Chinese (Taiwan)
5124 - Chinese (Macao SAR)
1028 - Chinese (Taiwan)
1028 - Chinese (Taiwan)
Default language
4100 - Chinese (Singapore)
2052 - Chinese (PRC)
2074 - Croatian
Default language
3098 - Croatian (Cyrillic)
Default language
For all other specified language identifiers, Analysis Services extracts the primary language of the specified language identifier and retrieves the language identifier indicated by Windows as the best match for the primary language. If a translation for the best match language identifier cannot be found, or if the specified language identifier is the best match for the primary language, then the default language is used.
See Also
Concepts
International Considerations for Analysis Services
Working with Languages and Collations (SSAS)