Opening FileWave Central (Admin) in a Specific Language (macOS)

What

FileWave Admin will automatically use the language, if supported, set on the workstation at installation (default English).  It is however possible to run FileWave Admin in a different language, as shown below, through an Apple Shortcut Menu Bar item.

When/Why

FileWave Central (Admin) doesn’t currently have the option to change Language preference in the application itself.  Only some languages are supported with this method.

How

The following command may be used to both open and specify a chosen language at runtime.  Apple Shortcuts app allows running scripts via a Menu Bar item.

/Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin --lang en_GB &

In FileWave 15.4.0, the above line will fail to launch the chosen language as is.  See below shortcut example for alternate script.

Available Language Options:

Requirements:

• macOS Monterey or newer

• Shortcuts Application (System Application)

• FileWave Central Admin Application

Creating the Shortcut

1. 

   Open the Shortcuts Application on a macOS machine running Monterey or newer (macOS 12).

2. In the Menu, under File, select New Shortcut.

3. Name the Shortcut. For example: “FW Admin (EN)”.

4. Select Run Shell Script as the action.

5. Insert the command below, setting the preferred language. Below example showing US English.
   
   

   /Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin --lang en_US & 
   exit 0

   In, 15.4.0 try the following script instead.  Example using German, but alter the temp_locale parameter as required:

    

   #!/bin/zsh
   
   temp_locale="de_DE"
   
   current_user=$(stat -f%Su /dev/console)
   current_locale=$(defaults read /Users/${current_user}/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist AppleLocale)
   
   /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Set AppleLocale '$temp_locale'' /Users/${current_user}/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist
   
   /Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin &
   
   /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Set AppleLocale '$current_locale'' /Users/${current_user}/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist
   
   exit 0

    

6. Shortcut Details tab (ℹ️), offers options for launching the Shortcut. As an example: pin to Menu Bar and create a keyboard shortcut for quick access to the FileWave Central App.

   
   

All done!