OS System default

When designing a report, the developer have the choice of formatting the dates, times, numbers and currencies using the operating system default formats or hard coding the formats in the reports:

• System default formats:
  With this setting, the user can customize the formats himself; however all the reports he produces will use the same formats. For instance, if you distribute your software with French, German, UK and US reports, all these reports will use the date format on where there are generated. The user can change his/her formats from the control panel/Regional option dialog box in Windows
   
• Hard coded formats:
  If you hard code the formats in the report itself, you can for instance create a French report with a French date format, a UK report with a English date format, a US report with an American date format… You are sure that wherever the reports are generated they will be "fully" internationalized. The disadvantage of this is that the users cannot change the format themselves, except if they use Crystal Reports!

If you distribute your application with one set of report, it is advisable to use the system default formats, however if you distribute your application with reports in several languages it is better to hard code the formats so that the reports are fully internationalized. The translator can select to use the system default formats by selecting "System format" when translating a date, time, currency or number with this software.