Translate
Language translation interface for AWeb.
By William H. M. Parker bill@amitrix.com

23 Apr 1998 - All Rights Reserved



Index


Requirements

Translate requires AWeb-II ver 3.1 (or newer) by Yvon Rozijn.
The extended functions need a valid 'TCP:' device as provided with Miami, AmiTCP and INET-225.
The 'AWNPipe:' is also required, it is provided and installed automatically.

Installation

The translate files belong in 'AWeb3:plugins/'. Translate will actually work anywhere as long as both of its files are kept in the same drawer.

AWNPipe-handler should be in L: . Both AWNPipe and AWNPipe.info should be in Devs:DOSDrivers or Sys:Storage/DOSDrivers.

The translate.awebrx script may be called directly from the ARexx menu, from an AWeb GUI Button, or a KeyBoard shortcut (usually <ALT> t) . It can also be put in the frame popup menu to translate individual frames.

GUI Button

name            translate
command         run aweb3:plugins/translate.awebrx [mode] [opt]

ARexx Menu
title           translate
macro           aweb3:plugins/translate.awebrx  [mode] [opt]

Frame Popup Menu
title           translate
command           run aweb3:plugins/translate.awebrx  u %u [mode] [opt]

KeyBoard Shortcut
Key           ALT T
command           run aweb3:plugins/translate.awebrx  [mode] [opt]

The Frame popup menu is used to translate individual frames. The 'u %u' MUST be the first parameters on the command line.

If you don't use an Aweb3: assign you must use

                FullPath/translate.awebrx [mode] [opt]

ARexx limits file name length so the use of the assign is preferred.

It is also possible to install translate to be used for a single language pair only.

name            En_It
command         run aweb3:plugins/translate.awebrx  en_it  [ask]

(Using the translate mode as the name is a good idea)

How does it work ?

Translate makes use of the translation service provided on the AltaVista WWW site babelfish.altavista.digital.com

Using the translator

Simply click the translate GUI button, call Translate from the ARexx Menu, or use the KeyBoard Shortcut and the currently displayed URL can be translated. If you did not specify a translation mode when you installed Translate you will be asked to select one before the the translation takes place.

You can also drag select some text in the AWeb Window and run translate . The highlighted text is sent out for translation and the results shown in a window on the AWeb screen. The translation result window will let you save or print the translation if you wish. If you did not specify a translation mode when you installed Translate you will be asked to select one before the the text is translated.

The ask option can be used to access additional translation abilities.

Translation modes

Translations between English and Italiano, Deutsch, Português, Français, or Español are currently available. The translation will work either way (to or from English).

The translation mode is two letters specifying the original language followed by an underscore '_' and then the two letters for the destination language. This is the same format used by the AltaVista site allowing the script to work with minimal changes if new languages become available.

The following modes are currently valid.

en_fr, en_de, en_it, en_pt, en_es, fr_en, de_en, it_en, es_en, or pt_en.

Ask Options

If you include the 'ask' keyword on the translate.awebrx command line additional translation features become available. If translate is run while no text is highlighted a requester opens. Using 'askalways' or 'aska' on the command line causes the requester to open every time translate is run.

The requester lets you read this documentation file, translate the current URL, translate the contents of the ClipBoard, translate the text highlighted on the AWeb screen or start interactive translation in a con:.

Read Docs
Read this file

URL
Translate the currently displayed html page completely.

ClipBoard
Translate the contents of the ClipBoard and place the translated text back into the ClipBoard for export.

Translating the ClipBoard is a very powerful function. It allows you to translate text from almost any source. Since the translated text is placed back into ClipBoard it is easy to use the aweb translation services from most text based programs.

AWeb text
Translate the text highlighted on the AWeb screen.

Con:
Open a con: for interactive translation. Enter text and hit return. The text is translated and echoed back into the con. It is possible to have several interactive translations going at once.