Can we create Business Central Extensions with Indian Languages (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi) Translations..?

Disclaimer: This is a fun project, created to experiment the possibilities of Business Central and the languages translation within it. It doesn’t mislead the language packs provided by Microsoft. So far, Microsoft haven’t provided any Indian language Business Central Edition and to check the Country and Language Pack Business Central availability, please follow the below link.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/compliance/apptest-countries-and-translations

Well..Well…Well!!! Can we really create a Business Central Extension with Indian Languages like Tamil, Telugu, Hindi or even with few others..! Initially, the thought didn’t arise until playing with the page ‘Languages’ in Business Central.

Before getting into that, I would like to explain what I understood from that page. There are two language connectivity within Business Central.

• Windows Language
• Business Central supported Languages

Windows Languages:

In order to understand, the Windows supported languages, please go through the below link

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/available-language-packs-for-windows

There are totally 12 Indian languages available in it. If you observe the below image, you can see the Language ID which is same as the Language ID used in Business Central (refer User Personalisation).

Business Central Support Languages:

The countries/regions that are supported with Dynamics 365 Business Central and the supported languages for each country/region version are the Business Central supported Languages.

Creating New Languages

In order to create new languages, Navigate to Languages list page in Business Central.

• Click New and then assign the Code. It’s better to maintain the standard code provided by Windows language.
• Type in the Name as well
• Enter the Windows Language ID referring to the Windows Language ID link. Once the Language ID is entered, you can notice the Windows Language Name gets populated automatically. You had successfully added the Windows Language into the Languages list.

Translation File Creation Process

Now that the language is added, let’s create the base translation file and multiple language translation files.

Base File Creation

• Add the following code in app.json

 "features": ["TranslationFile","GenerateCaptions"] 

• Build the Project (Ctrl+Shift+B)

• The Base Translation File will be created under the Translation Folder

Multi Language Translation File

• From the Base Translation file, create different language Translation file with proper Language/Region Tag.

• Add the Target with required language content

Tricky Zone

What we did in the Languages page is just adding the language but not creating it as we know Business Central supports certain languages and Hindi, Tamil or any Indian Languages is not available in the list.

So, we are going to change the target language/region tag in the Translation file to one of the available Business Central Languages. Here, I’m choosing the target language=”en-AU”

Now, Build and publish the extension and change the language from ‘My Settings’.

Check the published Extension pages:

Language: Tamil

Language: Hindi

Hurrah..! As you can see that, we are able to see our Indian language translation for Business Central pages.

NOTE: As the existing language/region tag is applied to the target language in translation file, this approach is applicable to Extensions only and not to the base application.

Have fun with Business Central..!

Original Post https://codethecoffee.wordpress.com/2019/11/12/can-we-create-business-central-extensions-with-indian-languages-tamil-telugu-and-hindi-translations/