The Strings Table

I have seen this in a couple of SQR reports and this will be a good tip for the developers.

What is this Strings Table?

The PeopleTools Strings table (STRINGS_TBL) stores textual strings used for language sensitive labels and other text in PS/nVision and SQRs to avoid hard-coding labels into the report files themselves. The use of strings rather than hard-coded text in reports enables translators to translate the report layout in the database without editing the report’s code itself.This enables you to run a single copy of a report in multiple languages, while avoiding the duplication of code and report logic.Each row in the Strings table keys each string to a STRING_ID, which is associated with one of two different string types:

• The short (RFT Short) or long (RFT Long) field description of the field.

The STRING_ID must equal the field name.

• A free-form text string.

In either case, when a report requests a string in a particular language, the system returns the translated string if a translation is available. If no translation exists, the base language string is returned.

The Strings table is also keyed by a PROGRAM_ID field, which enables you to classify strings into groups that are used in similar reports. PROGRAM_ID can refer to a specific SQR or PS/nVision report name, or it can be a mnemonic for a group of common strings that are shared between reports

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