Adding an unsupported Language

[alkdevteam]

I've looked at this KB article:
http://kb.acresso.com/selfservice/dynamickc.do?cmd=show&forward=nonthreadedKC&docType=kc&externalId=Q106687&sliceId=1

But I am having trouble following it. Has anyone else gone through this process of adding languages with IS-2009 successfully?

1) Where do we get language packs from? The only thing I could find that might be a language pack is the "InstallShield 2009 MSI.NET Language Pack Setup Prerequisites" listed under "Check for Updates". But I'm not sure if this is what I need or not.

2) When I go through the New Language Wizard, it won't go to the next screen after I choose a language and hit 'Next.' Is this because I don't have the Language Pack yet, or is it simply a problem with the New Language Wizard?

Any help would be very appreciated!

[alkdevteam]

Does anyone have any info about this? I'm trying to add Arabic (Saudi Arabia) to my Installscript MSI project. On the general information->project properties->setup languages, it is not an option, and as I said the Add New Language Wizard doesn't seem to work.

It does say "The Premier edition of InstallShield includes additional languages. For more information, visit the Acresso Website" with a link to the home page. I have the premier edition but I haven't found anyway to add arabic to my project. Can anyone help?

[dglover]

I'm having the same problem, but only with Installscript MSI projects. I can add unsupported languages to Basic MSI projects ok.

Does anyone know if this is this an IS 2009 bug? I was able to add unsupported languages to the same Installscript MSI project in IS 12.

[dglover]

Upon further investigation, it appears that InstallShield have removed the ability to add unsupported languages to InstallScript MSI projects. Only Basic MSI projects can have unsupported languages now. Great.

Wish we'd of know that before purchasing 2009. Hopefully others who are hoping to utilise the new Arabic support feature aren't using InstallScript MSI projects.

[MichaelU]

That ability never existed; InstallScript UI is limited to the original language set. In some earlier versions, the Add New Language wizard would mistakenly allow you to attempt to add the language to such projects, but it wouldn't work in reality. In the worst case, it might have allowed you to corrupt your languages.

[dglover]

In IS 12 I have added Arabic (English strings), English UK and English Canadian to my InstallScript MSI project. They are all present and correct in the string tables and show up in the language selection when running setup.exe and it all runs perfectly well in these languages.

I have some code in my script that uses the SELECTED_LANGUAGE variable and performs relevant tasks based upon the selected language. Just for a test, I added Afrikaans and Albanian this morning. Again, all working perfectly.

This has been shipping to our customers for well over a year. Please could you explain what you mean when you say 'it wouldnt work in reality' and 'it might have allowed you to corrupt your languages'. :confused:

[MichaelU]

I'll have to get some further information on this. My high level understanding is that beyond the original thirty-odd languages whose resources are already part of the InstallScript runtime, new languages cannot be added without internal code changes on our side. The language selection dialog of an InstallScript MSI project is shared with Basic MSI and is able to handle the additional languages.

It's possible your case happens to work out because it is using English characters which work identically across any code page. I suspect if you were using characters outside that subset, that problems would start to appear. But I'll defer to someone with stronger knowledge of the InstallScript UI model.

If you're confident in your languages working, it's not too hard to add them manually. I suggest using the MSI Diff tool to look at the differences earlier versions made to the project file, and repeat them after using the new language wizard to add the same language to a Basic MSI project to ensure that the IDE is set up for it. But again, as I understand it, these table differences aren't really enough for translating ISMSI projects to new languages.

[#8]

Note: This post is obsolete, see addditional post below.

OK, just to clarify there was some confusion internally as to whether it was possible to add an unsupported language to an ISMSI project, since InstallScript projects don't allow this, however as noted above if you provide your own localized isres.dll it should be possible.

This issue is now logged as IOC-000074417.

Follow these steps to work around this problem.

1. Unzip the attached hotfix file and copy it into the InstallShield "System" folder, this file updates the Ide to allow you to see the language in the "General Information" view after you have added it.

2. Update the Ide to support the new language using the "Add New Language" wizard. (Select any existing MSI project, the wizard doesn't update projects currently in any case). Also, you don't need to check the "Update InstalShield" checkbox, this modifies new projects to include the new lang.

3. Open the ISMSI project, using the direct editor add an entry in the "ISLangauges" table for the new language, (e.g.) for English (UK) you would add 2057, 1.

4. Close & reopen the project, you should then see the new languages string table in the "General Information" view. To populate the specific language string table import an existing string table file, one way to do this is to export an existing language to a temporary file and then import the file.

5. Follow the additional standard steps to add the new language (i.e.) Add a Support\0xxxxx.ini file and a localized isres.dll in the appropriate location.

Your project should then support the new lang, note that currently the unsupported language won't be shown in the "Project Settings | Languages" dialog in any case.

Devin Ellingson
Software Developer
Acresso Software

[dglover]

Thank you for providing a hotfix to the problem. It all appears to work ok so far (apart from the hotfix file should go in 'System', not 'Program')

We have never had a problem adding unsupported languages to our InstallScript MSI projects for numerous years, and with various different InstallShield versions, up until IS2009. The KB article detailing how to add unsupported languages clearly states IS MSI for all previous IS versions.....

http://kb.acresso.com/selfservice/dynamickc.do?cmd=show&forward=nonthreadedKC&docType=kc&externalId=Q106687&sliceId=1

.....Will there be a SP release to resolve this problem fully? So languages appear in Project > Settings > Languages etc?

[#10]

I have attached an updated hotfix, this includes an update to the "Add New Language Wizard" to allow you to select and ISMSI project, this will allow you to add the language to ISMSI project w/o modifying tables manually or importing strings.

dglover, thanks for pointing out the folder typo.

Unfortunately, due to technical limitations currently it is not possible to update the project settings dialog without updating most of the product files, so for now it will not be possible to see the new languages in the ISMSI project settings | language dialog.

So these are the updated steps.

1. Unzip the attached hotfix files and copy them into the InstallShield "System" folder, this file updates the Ide to allow you to see the language in the "General Information" view after you have added it, and updates the "Add New Language Wizard" to allow you select ISMIS project.

2. Update the desired project/Ide to support the new language using the "Add New Language" wizard. (Select the desired language/project.) Note that you can run the wizard multiple times to add the language to multiple projects. (Make sure the project is not open when the wizard is run).

4. Open the project, you should then see the new languages string table in the "General Information" view with the appropriate strings added.

5. Follow the additional standard steps to add the new language (i.e.) Add a Support\0xxxxx.ini file and a localized isres.dll in the appropriate location.

Your project should then support the new lang, note that currently the unsupported language won't be shown in the "Project Settings | Languages" dialog in any case.

Devin Ellingson
Software Developer
Acresso Software

[alkdevteam]

Devin, thanks a lot for posting a fix. I've followed your instructions and was able to add English (AU), English (UK) and Arabic (Saudi Arabia) to my Installscript MSI project. But I am still having one problem

My setup.ini file produce by my build is missing English(UK) and English(AU) keys under the [0x0409] section. Both options do appear when the install user is prompted to choose a language though, but if you choose English(UK) or English(AU) the installation errors out.

If I add the key/value pair for English(AU) and English(UK) manually the install works fine, but I'd like the setup.ini to be built correctly. Is there anything I can do, possibly in the direct editor, in order to fix this?

[#12]

You are correct these languages are not listed in the [0x0409] section in Setup.ini, however in my tests this isn't causing any problems.

What kind of error are you seeing?

Also, did you update your '0x0809.ini' file to have the correct section name (i.e.) [0x0809].

Devin Ellingson
Software Developer
Acresso Software

[alkdevteam]

If I don't manually put the values into setup.ini the error I receive when choosing English (UK) as a language is

"1158: Error populating strings. Verify that all strings in Setup.ini are valid"

I did update the 0x0809.ini file in Support to have the correct section name.

[kor21727]

I visited Q106687: HOWTO: Add an Unsupported Language to a Project site.
And I tried to add language hindi in a MSI script project.

My procedure is following step.

1. Modify a file \Support\Language.dat (add "Hindi=439")
2. Modify a file \Support\Langs.ini (add "1081=Installed")
3. Make a duplicate of this folder \Redist\0439
4. Make a file \Support\0x0439.ini
5. Make a file \Languages\1081 (UNICODE).txt

And I can add Hindi language. But I can't install my project.
Because 1208 error occured.

How do I solve this problem?

[anirudha_ketkar]

I am facing an issue with the installshield12 premier edition.

The issue is as below.
I want to add English (UK) which is not there in the default languages. When I tried to add the language using the Add new language wizard it allows me to select any language. But the Next button doesn't do any thing.

If I need to install the Language pack for this can you please tell me the location for the same?

I tried to use the hot Fix given above. but it don’t help me out.

[Androns]

same situation u guys are faceing.

IF my opinion counts

THEN I suggest to include an urgent bug fix to IS 2009 Premier IDE.

IF bugfix released

THEN a lot of developers = simply HAPPY with Acresso soft

ELSE nulsoft installer engine or other tools :(:mad:

[Androns]

is there a posibility to refund the investments made in Acresso ?

If the problem is not solved in an apropriate time line I suggest that every one gets money back :

1. dev tool
2. books
3. waisted time
...

n. nerves for God sake

[pulkit_lall]

MichaelU wrote:
That ability never existed; InstallScript UI is limited to the original language set. In some earlier versions, the Add New Language wizard would mistakenly allow you to attempt to add the language to such projects, but it wouldn't work in reality. In the worst case, it might have allowed you to corrupt your languages.

Hi,
I need to add Hindi language in 2012 Spring edition but am not able to add.

Can someone please provide steps to add Hindi language in 2012 spring edition.