Language and locale

When you send a request to Cloud API, the default behavior is to present data in the response using the default language and locale specified in PolicyCenter. These defaults are specified in config.xml using the following application configuration parameters:

  • DefaultApplicationLanguage
  • DefaultApplicationLocale

For more information on how InsuranceSuite applications support globalization, see the Globalization Guide.

If PolicyCenter supports multiple languages and locales, Cloud API requests can use request headers to specify a language and locale for the response. There are different ways the language and locale of the response can be interpreted:

  • The Guidewire-specific GW-Language and GW-Locale headers
    • This is the recommended method
  • The preferred language of an authenticated user
  • The standard HTTP Accept-Language header

GW headers

Cloud API has two Guidewire-specific headers you can use to specify language and locale: GW-Language and GW-Locale. These headers give you the ability to explicitly state the desired language and locale for a call.

To specify a language using Guidewire-specific headers, include the following header with the request:

  • Key: GW-Language
  • Value: (an ISO 639-1 code designating the language)

For example, to set the language to Japanese, the request must contain a GW-Language/ja header.

To specify a locale using GW headers, include the following header with the request:

  • Key: GW-Locale
  • Value: (an ISO 639-1 code followed by an underscore followed by an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 locale code)

For example, to set the locale to Japanese, the request must contain a GW-Locale/ja_JP header.

If you want to specify a language and locale, Guidewire recommends using these headers. They are the most explicit declaration of the intent of the call.

The preferred language of the authenticated caller

If the caller is authenticated and has a preferred language and the call does not specify a GW-Language or GW-Locale header, then the caller's preferred language is used.

Note that this only applies to calls where the caller is authenticated. It does not apply to calls where authentication does not occur, such as calls to the /openapi.json and /swagger.json endpoints.

The Accept-Language header

The Accept-Language header is a standard HTTP header that specifies a preferred language (but not a preferred locale). This header is automatically added by most browsers. However, how it is set depends on the browser. The header can also be set by non-browser calls.

If the request does not contain either a GW-Language header or GW-Locale header, and the caller is not an authenticated user with a preferred language, then the Accept-Language header is used.

How are the response language and locale determined?

What is specified What is language set to? What is locale set to?
Both GW-Language and GW-Locale The GW-Language header value. The GW-Locale header value.
Only GW-Language The GW-Language header value. The caller's preferred locale, if any. Otherwise, the PolicyCenter default locale.
Only GW-Locale The caller's preferred language, if any. Otherwise, the PolicyCenter default language. The GW-Locale header value.
Neither GW-Language nor GW-Locale The caller's preferred language, if any. Otherwise, the Accept-Language header, if any. Otherwise, the PolicyCenter default language. The caller's preferred locale, if any. Otherwise, the PolicyCenter default locale.