Localizing your model

IBM® Cognos® TM1® provides a mechanism to localize objects on your TM1 server, so that users can view object names in their current locale without requiring any configuration

Localization in Cognos TM1 is accomplished through the Caption attribute, which lets you assign localized names to any cube, dimension, element, or element attribute on the TM1 server. You can assign Caption attribute values for all language locales supported in TM1, which correspond to the elements in the }Cultures control dimension.

When a user starts any of the TM1 clients that support localization, object names display the Caption attribute value for the language associated with the users current locale, without requiring any configuration.

The following TM1 clients support localization:

  • IBM Cognos TM1 Web
  • IBM Cognos TM1 Application Web
  • IBM Cognos Insight
  • IBM Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel

TM1 Web and TM1 Application Web use the current browser language setting to determine the language to display.

Cognos Insight and Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel use the Windows Location setting to determine the language to display.

Note: IBM Cognos Performance Modeler can optionally display localized names or invariant names for objects on the TM1 Server. An invariant name is the name assigned to an object upon original creation. To display localized names, right click the root on the Model Design pane, then click Show Captions. To display invariant names, right click the root on the Model Design pane, then click Show Invariant Names..

The Caption attribute

This Caption attribute can be setup as a Text type or as an Alias type. When the Caption attribute is an Alias type, the attribute values are used to display localized object names. Additionally, TM1 enforces the uniqueness of its Caption attribute values, and you can use the Caption value to search for the associated dimension, cube or element, or to use as arguments to functions that retrieve or sent data to the TM1 server.

When the Caption attribute is a Text type, the attribute values are used solely to display localized object names. Uniqueness is not enforced, so you can use the same value for multiple attributes if desired.

Language locale codes and behavior of the Caption attribute

TM1 uses international language codes defined by ISO 639-1 to identify major languages and IETF language tags to identify specific locales. For example, "fr" identifies French, while "fr-CA" identifies French (Canada).

You can assign Caption attribute values for major language codes, such as "fr", as well as any associated specific locales, such as "fr-FR" or" fr-CA".

If a Caption attribute value does not exist for a given specific locale, TM1 automatically retrieves the value of the associated major language code. For example, if a Caption attribute value does not exist for "pt-BR", TM1 retrieves the value for "pt".

If no values are found for a Caption attribute, the base default attribute value is returned.

Review the list of elements in the }Cultures control dimension to familiarize yourself with the ISO 639-1/IETF combinations supported in TM1.