Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Oct 13, 2014
3 min read

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions

How to Enable A Specific Language and Locale

Currently supported languages/locales are defined in the sakai.properties file. A good reference for language/locale settings is at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/locale.doc.html.

After the process of localization has been completed, there are two options for displaying the translated interface within Sakai:

  1. You can define the default language/locale when starting Sakai by setting user.language and user.region#* If Sakai is running on a Windows machine, you should define these variables in the batch file used to start tomcat. For example, inserting the following line into the catalina.bat file (below the comment "rem ----- Execute the Requested Command") will define Spanish/Spain as the default language/locale:

    set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Duser.language=es -Duser.region=ES

    • If Sakai is running on a Linux or Unix machine, you should define these variables in the shell script used to start tomcat. For example, inserting the following line into the catalina.sh file (below the comment "# ----- Execute the Requested Command") will define Spanish/Spain as the default language/locale:

      JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Duser.language=es -Duser.region=ES"
  2. Individual users can enable a supported language/locale using the Preferences Tool and selecting the Language option (click image to enlarge):
  3. WIthin sakai.properties set locales.more = en_US_DEBUG to display the properties key/value pairs – you will need to select this locale in preferences

How do I handle customizations for my institution?

If you have translated properties files but would also have customizations to support your local institution, you can create a third tier of localization (e.g. language, region, institution):

some-tool_es_ES.properties – this should contain the community-wide spanish translations (without institutional customizations)
some-tool_es_ES_XYZ.properties – this would contain your XYZ customizations (only those properties different from the above file)

Then you can set your default user.region at boot time to "ES_XYZ", so for example:
JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Duser.language=es -Duser.region=ES_XYZ"

How can I get the page titles to display in my language?

Page titles are considered dynamic data that are stored in the database, not in properties files. Page/Tool titles will be created in the default language at the time of site creation, but some sites (e.g. Gateway) are created at installation time. In the Sakai 2.7 release, page and tool titles will be dynamically displayed in the user's language preference.

You can modify these page titles by updating the SQL scripts prior to installation, but another approach would be to modify them using the admin tools:

1) Log in as admin
2) Select "Worksite Setup"
3) Select the checkbox next to "Gateway" and select the "Edit" link at top of page
4) Select "Page Order"
5) For each page title, select the edit icon and type in the translated page title
6) Be sure to select "Save" when finished

New worksites that you create will not have this problem, only worksites that are created at installation. "My Workspace" worksites will not have this problem in the Sakai 2.6.x release, though the problem is still outstanding in Sakai 2.5.x (a patch to resolve this is pending).

How to Enable A Specific Timezone

Timezones for individual users can be set using the Preferences tool in a users workspace. The timezone default across the whole Sakai instance is set by the JAVA_OPTS, for example:

-Duser.timezone='Asia/Karachi'

How can I implement an alternate grading scale?

The grade types implemented in Sakai are typical for English educational system, while at my university and at other high schools/universities in Poland another grading system is used - numbers from 2 to 5, usually:

Grade    Up to % inclusive

   2.0         50

   3.0         60

   3.5         70

   4.0         80

   4.5         90

   5.0        100

You can override the defaults (and add new ones) if you add a file $CATALINA_HOME/sakai/sakai-configuration.xml and set it something like:

https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/msub/longsight.com/custom_builds/14/distros/2.8.x/sakai/sakai-configuration.xml