Information on language, country code, and, optionally, the variant is maintained in the locale.dat file, along with date and numeric formats. The system uses this information to set the locale formatting (the date and number formats) for an QAD Standard Edition user.

When a user logs in, the system validates the log-in identifier in User Maintenance and determines the associated QAD ERP (MFG/PRO) language and country code. It uses this information to access the corresponding record in locale.dat.

The system uses the date and number format information and ISO language code in locale.dat to set the user’s locale formats in character and in the QAD .NET UI.

If locale information cannot be determined at log-in, US settings are used by default.

Three values associated with a user determine locale formatting: language, country code, and variant.

Two number formats are defined in Progress: American and European. Decimal and thousand separators are defined differently for each numeric format type. Periods (.) and commas (,) are used to separate decimal places and thousand places, depending on which format is specified. For example, in the US format, a period separates decimal, while a comma separates thousands as in 10,000.33. A user with the European numeric format will see the number as 10.000,33.