Regional settings
The regional settings that you configure in your personal preferences mainly affect the way in which dates and numbers are displayed in WorldServer, as well as the format in which you can enter dates and numbers in WorldServer.
Your regional settings are not related to the user interface display language that you choose or to the language settings of your operating system. Also, your regional settings do not affect the time zone that you specified in your personal preferences. Time zones affect what time is displayed, whereas regional settings affect how the time is displayed.
- The format used for dates, including the delimiters between fields.
- Whether years should be displayed in two digits or in four digits.
- Whether hours are displayed in a 12-hour format or in a 24-hour format.
- The first day of the week on a calendar (for example, Sunday or Monday).
Date and time input
In addition to determining how WorldServer should display dates and times, your regional settings also determine how you can enter new dates and times.
In time-based fields or date-based fields, you can enter values in the format corresponding to your settings. For example, if your regional settings are configured to German, you can type 31.12.2017 19:25 to indicate 7:25 PM on the last day of 2017. If you can select the date and time in a date picker, the date picker automatically configures the values you selected in a way that is compatible with your regional settings.
Dates and times in custom attributes
WorldServer has a single custom attribute type called Date that is used to display both dates and times. The most typical use of this attribute type is to get and set date values, but it also supports times as well. If you enter only a date, the time is not displayed. If you enter a time, it is displayed on the user interface.
Numbers
- The character used as the decimal separator. In US English, this is a period, whereas in many European countries, this is a comma. For example, to represent the number that is halfway between two and three, a US resident would type 2.5, while a resident of Spain would type 2,5.
- The character used as the thousands separator. In US English, this is a comma, whereas in many European countries, this is a period. For example, to represent the number that is halfway between two thousand and three thousand, a US resident would type 2,500, while a resident of Spain would type 2.500.
- Not all numbers are displayed as formatted numbers. Sometimes, WorldServer displays numbers without formatting. For example, 123456. If the number is an identifier or another numeric string where the actual value is of little importance, it is usually not formatted.
- If a number is used to count elements, the number is formatted properly.
- Integer-type custom attributes are formatted properly.
Numeric data input
Generally, when you enter numeric data into a field in WorldServer, you do not need to use formatting. For example, to type the number halfway between two thousand and three thousand, you can type 2500. However, you can also enter values according to your regional settings. If you configured your regional settings to US English, you can type 2,500. If you configured your regional settings to German, you can enter 2.500. WorldServer interprets both as 2500.
Monetary information
To properly display monetary information (for example, in cost models), WorldServer uses two sources: your regional settings and the selected currency.
- What thousand separator to use (for example, commas, periods, or spaces).
- What decimal separator to use (for example, commas or periods).
- How to represent negative numbers (for example, with a leading - or by surrounding the number in parentheses).
- Where the currency information should be displayed (for example, in front of the number of after the number).
Monetary data input
In the places where you can type monetary values, WorldServer does not display the currency. However, WorldServer follows all the other rules for how monetary information should be displayed. For example, a setting that would normally be displayed as $1234.50 is displayed as 1234.50.
When WorldServer presents the results of applying a cost model to a scoping report, the Cost Estimate column displays the ISO-standard three-letter abbreviation for the currency in the column header and, to save space, WorldServer does not display the currency information in the rest of the column.
When you define a cost model rule, you specify the numeric value for the discount or charge, but you do not want to specify a currency. Instead, the currency is inherited when you associate that particular cost model rule with a specific cost model (which has a currency). Because of this, you could have a cost model rule that might mean $10.00 when applied to one cost model, but 10.00€ when applied to another. To avoid this, cost model rules show the currency only when they have been combined with a cost model. Any time a cost model rule is presented on its own, it does not display the currency.
When you type costs in a cost model, WorldServer interprets the values according to your regional settings. For example, if your regional settings are configured to US English, you would type 0.50 to enter a value of 50 cents. A German user, however, might type 0,50.
You do not need to add a thousands separator when typing a value. However, you can do so as long as the separator is appropriate for your regional settings. For example, if your regional settings are configured to US English, to enter a value of 5000, you could type either 5000 or 5,000. A German user might type 5000 or 5.000.
Exceptions
The regional settings you configure do not apply to JasperReports Server, the reporting engine shipped with WorldServer. Therefore, you need to control the formatting in JasperReports Server separately.
The WorldServer log files also do not conform to regional settings. The format of the time in the log file is determined by the value of the log4j settings that your administrator configures in the general.properties file. Therefore, if you view log files in WorldServer, you might see a different format than the one you expected.