Localization tutorials ?

[jasonshow]

I need to localize my apps to support multiple languages,
but I didn't find any tutorials,can anyone tell me ?
(official tutorials are better)

thanks a lot.

[bn]

Hi Jason,

look at the LiveCode User Guide

4.5 UsingPropertyProfiles
currently page 117

to access the User Guide go to "Resources" -> User Guide -> at the bottom right of that page is: "launch PDF"

it describes a way to localize your app to different languages.

Kind regards
Bernd

[jasonshow]

thanks,bn !

Property Profiles seems I need to set all languages to every UI component.
if I need to add a new language,someday,i need to find out all of UI components,and one by one add new string to them.

can I just manage all strings in a file,write some codes,and let every UI components auto show the right language ?

thanks a lot !

[bn]

Hi Jasonshow,

can I just manage all strings in a file,write some codes,and let every UI components auto show the right language ?

shure, you can do that easily, you just have to keep the list up to date if you change your stack.
a way to collect all objects of a card and put them into a list in a robust format would be

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on mouseUp
   put " of" && the name of this stack into tStackName
   put " of" && the name of this card into tCardName
   repeat with i = 1 to the number of controls of this card
      put the abbrev id of control i & tCardName & tStackName & return after tCollect
   end repeat
   delete last char of tCollect -- a return
   put tCollect into field 1
end mouseUp

you can expand the list to all objects of a stack and all substacks.
You need at least one button that holds above code and one field where the output goes to run this scrpt. Add as many controls to the card as you like.

You could put this list into a tab delimited list and add the language specific words for each language.

It might turn out to be more time consuming than to use the Property Profiles.

Kind regards
Bernd

[trevix]

I use Property profile on my desktop app, but i think they are buggy. It's like handling eggs..
Trevix

[trevix]

Livecode 7.0.4 rc1, mavericks

Make a new stack
Create 3 buttons
Call btn 1 "Italiano" with the script:

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set the custompropertyset of  stack "NameOfTheStack" to "Italiano"

Call btn 2 "English" with the script:

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set the custompropertyset of  stack "NameOfTheStack" to "English"

Call btw 3 "BtnExample" with the script:

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set the label of me to the btn_001 of  stack "NameOfTheStack"

Create the stack custom property set "Italiano", with the custom properties "btn_001", value "Pulsante Uno"
Create the stack custom property set "English", with the custom properties "btn_001", value "Button One"

What am I missing? If you change the language, push "BtnExample" and its label will become empty.

All of this because, for my project with hundred of fields and btns, I am trying to change the localization method, from Property profiles on each control (works...more or less but revSetStackFileProfile bombs on Linux) to a scripted localization with a unique list of translations.
Should i do it ? Will it takes too much time on preopenstack while changing all these labels, etc ?
Thanks for any help.

[trevix]

Hi Bernd.
I took the liberty to add to your script. I tried it and it works pretty well; even if I am not sure of how fast the second script would be on startup with hundred of buttons and fields...

First you collect your controls data with this:

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on mouseUp
    lock screen
    set the lockmessages to true
    --put the long id of this card into tStartPoint if you have to move form this card
    --list all stacks in memory
    put revLoadedStacks(Application) into TheStacks
    set the itemdel to "|" --to separate the properties
    repeat for each line tStack in TheStacks
        put " of" && the name of  stack tStack into tStackName
        repeat for each line tCardID in the cardIDS of stack tStack
            put " of" && the name of card ID tCardID  into tCardName
            repeat with i = 1 to the number of controls of card ID tCardID of  stack tStack
                put the abbrev id of control i of card ID tCardID of stack tStack & tCardName & tStackName  into tControl
                put the label of tControl into item 1 of tControlA[tControl] --the label if there is one
                put  the text of tControl into item 2 of tControlA[tControl] --the text if there is one
                put  the tooltip of tControl into item 3 of tControlA[tControl] --the tooltip if there is one
                replace return with "§" in tControlA[tControl] --this is because the text file must be readable (some items may have return on it)
            end repeat
        end repeat
    end repeat
    --make a text file to save to the desktop
    combine tControlA using return and "|"
    put specialfolderPath("Desktop") & "/ListOfTerms.txt" into tPath
    put tControlA into URL ("file:" & tPath)
set the lockmessages to false
    unLock screen
end MouseUp

Now we have a nice text file on the desktop that we can translate on whatever language.
Once done it, we load it with all the labels and text of the translation:

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 On mouseUp
--now retrieve it
lock screen
    set the lockmessages to true
    put URL ("file:" & tPath) into tControlA
    split tControlA using Return and "|"
    ---we have the text, now put it back
    repeat for each line tControl in the keys of tControlA
        replace "§" with return in tControlA[tControl] --some item may have a return (like btn lists)
        if item 1 of tControlA[tControl] is not empty then
            set the label of tControl to item 1 of tControlA[tControl]
        end if
        if item 2 of tControlA[tControl] is not empty then
            set the text of tControl to item 2 of tControlA[tControl]
        end if 
        if item 3 of tControlA[tControl] is not empty then
            set the tooltip of tControl to item 3 of tControlA[tControl]
        end if 
    end repeat
  
    --go tStartPoint   -eventually go back to where you were
    set the lockmessages to false
    unLock screen

I am not sure if this is a correct approach to localization of a Desktop application. And I may miss some control properties.
Any opinions/suggestions?
Trevix

[bn]

Hi Trevix,

I took the liberty to change your scripts.

I am not an expert in localizations. And if you say it somehow bombs for you you could go your scripted way.
But actually setting the property sets should also work if done properly (did not test/don't have Linux) If it does not work it should be reported as bug.

This is a variation of your scripts.
Not that it is inherently different from your approach it is just a different way to do it. It keeps using the array and stores the properties as part of the array.
This way you could even add customProperties to your export.

Have a look. I think it should be pretty fast.

script export

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   lock screen
   set the lockmessages to true
   --put the long id of this card into tStartPoint if you have to move form this card
   --list all stacks in memory
   put revLoadedStacks(Application) into TheStacks
   repeat for each line tStack in TheStacks
      put " of" && the name of  stack tStack into tStackName
      repeat for each line tCardID in the cardIDS of stack tStack
         put " of" && the name of card ID tCardID  into tCardName
         repeat with i = 1 to the number of controls of card ID tCardID of  stack tStack
            put the abbrev id of control i of card ID tCardID of stack tStack & tCardName & tStackName  into tControl
            put the label of tControl into tControlA[tControl]["label"] --the label if there is one
            put  the text of tControl into tControlA[tControl]["text"] --the text if there is one
            put  the tooltip of tControl into tControlA[tControl]["toolTip"] --the tooltip if there is one
         end repeat
      end repeat
   end repeat
   put arrayEncode(tControlA) into tControlA
  
   put specialfolderPath("Desktop") & "/ListOfTerms.bin" into tPath
   put tControlA into URL ("binfile:" & tPath)
   set the lockmessages to false
   unLock screen
end MouseUp

script import

Code: Select all

On mouseUp
   --now retrieve it
   lock screen
   set the lockmessages to true
   put specialfolderPath("Desktop") & "/ListOfTerms.bin" into tPath
   put URL ("binfile:" & tPath) into tControlA
   put arrayDecode(tControlA) into tControlA
   
   ---we have the text, now put it back
   repeat for each key tControl in tControlA
      -- check if stack is really open do something about non open stacks herre
      -- currently it just skips the stack that is not open
      put word -2 to - 1 of tControl into tStackName
      if not (there is (tStackName)) then next repeat
      
      repeat for each key aProp in tControlA[tControl]
         set the aProp of tControl to tControlA[tControl][aProp]
      end repeat
   end repeat
   
   --go tStartPoint   -eventually go back to where you were
   set the lockmessages to false
   unLock screen
   
end mouseUp

[trevix]

Nice.
The reason I used a split/merge and txt file was so that the txt file could be easily updated for the different languages.
But your solution is better. I could even do a plugin for input of the various languages...

In general though any scripted solution add time to the loading of the application, if you have many controls. What do you thinK?

[bn]

Hi Trevix,

In general though any scripted solution add time to the loading of the application, if you have many controls. What do you thinK?

sure, but the stacks are in memory and only testing can tell.

Why don't you make a test stack with say 50 controls on a card and then copy that card 50 times.

Actually I just tried this, made a stack of 51 cards with 6 text fields with moderate amount of text in it, 16 label fields, 32 buttons and 6 graphics on each card

That is roughly 3000 objects.

creating the export file including writing took about 180 milliseconds on LC 6.7.4 rc1 and about 260 ms on LC 7.0.4 rc 2

reading the export file and setting all properties took 260 ms LC 6.7.4 rc1, 350 ms LC 7.0.4 rc2

I think that is not bad at all as a one time operation during startup. The user expects a little loading time and this adds veryl little.

One can not set the text of a graphic / had to exclude that.
Also you might watch out for images. etc. Just make sure you only gather info you can also set as a property for an object.

Kind regards

Bernd