Re: [Web-erp-developers] Italian Translation

[Daintrees <p.d...@pa...>]

Glad to have you back Luca.

As noted previosuly, I am also very keen on having the ability to mak=
e
translations in a web-form that feed through into the application
immediately. I have been exchanging email with Rom regarding this and=
 have
basically spec'd up the way this could be done by reading in a meesag=
es.po
file and showing the original msgid strings and the following msgstr =
string.
Having edited and re-written the messages.po file using a simple php =
scrip
behind the scenes re-running the gettext utility to create the .mo fi=
le.
Stopping and starting apache does not seem to be required. Rom is kee=
n to
get into this project - it would certainly have wider appeal than jus=
t
webERP and would give us the advantages you are seeking as well as th=
e
generic localisation code used by most php applications.

The way we have things will allow for the translation effort to proce=
ed with
no impact on the usability of the system.

The two issues important to you are also citical for me to:

1. having the application working at any  time, even during translati=
on
2. having a simple way to translate without  the danger of destroying=
 the
application.

We have to modify the scripts under either scenario - the gettext met=
hod I
believe will be a heck of a lot less work and could be done with conc=
erted
effort by us all within the month.

The .po file can be edited at will an copied around for translators t=
o work
on at their leisure - notebook or wherever without connectivity. The =
system
still clicks over. Using the web form translation proposed by Rom thi=
s could
also be done on line.

Having gone a little way down this track I feel committed to this app=
roach
Luca. The web-form editing application Rom has suggested also looks t=
o
address our key concerns too.

>A translation with the gettext approach is done without
> simultaneously looking at the application.

This is a problem although the .po file does tell you in which script=
 the
string appears - so you can look at the english application.

All approaches are a compromise and with the method we have chosen - =
I think
we can build a pretty good system.

Phil

----- Original Message -----=20
=46rom: "ing. Luca Turlon Don=E0" <luc...@pd...>
To: <web...@li...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 2:34 AM
Subject: [Web-erp-developers] Italian Translation


> Hello Phil,
> sorry for my silence, but I had some troubles that kept me away fro=
m work.
> I've seen that you started to work on the gettext solution.
>
> I've spent some time last week to study the approach of gettext, an=
d my
> opinion is that we the gettext solution is efficient but has the pr=
oblem
that
> the translations can be done without any control, i.e. you simply c=
hange a
> text file.
>
> Given thsi I have started thinking how I could get the best from th=
e
gettext
> approach and still keeping the db repository for the languages.
> I made some experiment and sorted out the following.
>
> In my "language.php" file I've defined a function translate(), whic=
h
receives
> a parameter which can be a string or an identifier. The function us=
es the
> $lang array, which contains all the translations needed, and which =
is
loaded
> at the beginning.
>
> function translate($idOfLabelToBeTranslated)
> {
>    global $lang;
>    if ($lang[$idOfLabelToBeTranslated]!=3Dnull)
>      return $lang[$idOfLabelToBeTranslated];
>    else
>      return $idOfLabelToBeTranslated;
> }
>
> As you can see translate simply returns the translated message, whi=
ch has
then
> to be echoed (so it is very similar to gettext_noop...)
>
> I also enlarged the db column containing the label identifier: now =
it's
100
> chars and can be enlarged again.
> Since $idOfLabelToBeTranslated can be a string you can maintain cod=
e
> readability, as you can see in the following chunk of code from
> SelectCustomer.php
>
> ....
> if ($_POST['Search']=3D=3Dtranslate("Search Now")){
>
> If ($_POST['Keywords'] AND $_POST['CustCode']) {
> $msg=3D translate("Customer name keywords have been used in
> preference to the customer code extract entered.");
> $_POST["Keywords"] =3D strtoupper($_POST["Keywords"]);
> }
> If ($_POST['Keywords']=3D=3D"" AND $_POST['CustCode']=3D=3D"") {
> $msg=3Dtranslate("At least one customer name keyword OR an
> extract of a customer code must be entered for the search");
> .....
>
> As you can understand, using this approach I am addressing your mai=
n
concern,
> which is maintaining the code easy to read.
>
> But also I am addressing my 2 concerns: having the application work=
ing at
any
> time, even during translation, and having a simple way to translate
without
> the danger of destroying the application. These issues are very imp=
ortant
to
> me; since I believe that a translator have to be free to see exactl=
y where
a
> certain sentence appears, in order to deeply understand the meaning=
 and
give a
> proper translation. A translation with the gettext approach is done
without
> simultaneously looking at the application. Using my approach you ca=
n have
one
> browser on the application and the other one in the application cre=
ated
for
> translation (i.e. some php pages that show the original and let you=
 write
the
> translation in a form)
>
> Now I am trying to solve the problem of parameters within a sentenc=
e, and
in
> particular the fact that the position of parameters can change from=
 one
> language to another (see the english-german example in the gettext
> documentation)..
>
> Finally: Phil, if you don't like this approach, i am going to bend =
down
and
> conform to you decision. The use of "translate" function is exactly=
 as
> gettext_noop, so it'll be easy to adapt. But please first try to co=
nsider
the
> db solution.
> Luca
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop
> FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools!
> Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today.
> http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=3D5047&alloc_id=3D10808&op=3Dclick
> _______________________________________________
> Web-erp-developers mailing list
> Web...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/web-erp-developers
>