This file will help you understand the proper way to do a translation that will bring the Enhanced E & the Enhanced EE to your native tongue. This will not make the Enhanced E's completely native but the menues will be translated along with the help and a few other items. It should make it as easy to use as if you'd picked it up just down the block. At this point in time I am sorry to say the help tips at the bottom of the window are not changeable. If this changes in the future I will most certainly make provisions for it. Hopefully this is planned such that if more items come available the translators can append their templates to reflect the changes and not have to rewrite. I'll try not to break them...
If you attempt to undertake a translation for the Enhanced E's be aware that the help files DO NOT NEED to be translated but if you do they must all keep their original names to be recognized by the help system. If you are planning on distributing your translation you'll need two copies of the menu file. One copy to archive and one copy for the editors use. The list of files that would be archived for distribution would be -
PSE_xxxx.lng (menu file where "xxxx" is gives language discription)
Trnsxxxx.txt (Translators [your] file where "xxxx" is gives language discription)
PSE_lang.txt (this file)
plus any other files you've translated -
The following files ARE NOT required to be translated but it would be beneficial to others that may want the translated information.
PSHelp.txt
Readme.txt
Register.txt
PSAbout.txt
PSWhats.new
PSeee_xx.txt (where xx is the version number)
File_ID.diz
The main objective for most people would be the menu items in the actual program. Towards that end I have included a template of items currently available for translation and use in the program.
The template "pse_eng.lng" is a template (read only) in english of the proper format used to interface with the Enhanced E and the Enhanced EE Editors. It was created as an ASCII file to allow it to be easily translated by the average (grammatically correct <grin>) person. Hopefully this will expidite the translating of many languages for the Enhanced E's. Although this is a text file it still has to be operated on in a proper way. The long version of this help should hopefully give the average user enough information to do a successful translation. If you spend alot of time with your computer you will no doubt be bored with the details of what amounts to an ASCII ini file. The short version is for you.
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Short Version
The short instructions would tell you that the editor reads the "Language" file into a stem variable and distributes the tails to their proper places in the program. Each line of the file ends in a carraige return and represents a tail or 1 menu entry. Mnemonic keys are allocated by preceding the chosen letter with a tilde(~). The hotkey instuctions (like "Ctrl+p") must remain as they are and have to have a tab preceding them to line up properly. The language file itself has to end on a "new line". Save it and set the "read only" attribute to "On".
If you understood that, then skip the "Long Version" and go directly to "Using the Language file".
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Long Version
This should really not be difficult. You just have to be careful not to hit the <Enter> key while editing this file.
Make a copy of the template file (pse_eng.lng) and rename it "pse_?.lng" replacing the ? with up to four letters that are descriptive of your language. Example: German = "pse_ger.lng" or French = "pse_fra.lng" or whatever seems proper. Now open the file you just created. Here are the first seven lines.
~File
~Edit
~Options
~Help
~New
~Open file Ctrl+o
All files *.*
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Carraige Returns -
Notice that each line ends with a carraige return. You can see the carraige return by highlighting these four lines. See how the highlight seems to be one space longer than the word ~File? There is a character there that doesn't appear as text in the editor, it's the "crlf" or "carraige return/line feed" pair. When the Enhanced E reads the language file it reads from one "crlf" to the next. That is how it keeps the text for the menu items separate.
Don't add extra spaces to the end of the line either as this could make the menu boxes very wide. Highlight the seven lines below and notice how long the "~Help" line actually is because of the addition of about twenty spaces. These spaces could make the menu window format itself very wide. Strip any spaces that may be hanging on the end of your translated lines.
~File
~Edit
~Options
~Help
New
Open file Ctrl+o
All files *.*
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Mnemonic Keys
The tilde (~) character preceding a letter will make that character a mnemonic key. Sort of like a hot key when a particular menu window is open. (mnemonics are the ones underlined) You can change the position or character of the mnemonic key for any entry. Select one that makes sense, usually the first letter of the word unless it is already being used by another menu entry in the same drop down box. Menu entries in different sub-menues can use the same mnemonic without problems as only the currently open menu recieves the key.
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Hot Keys
The hot Keys have to be "tabbed" (1 tab from the end of the menu word) in order for them to format correctly in the program. In other words if I were writing the "Open file" entry from the earlier example I would type "~Open file", hit the "tab" button once and then type "Ctrl+o". Don't worry about the hotkeys looking formatted here, the program will find the tab and line them up when it builds it's menues.
The hot keys like "Ctrl+o" for "Open file" will have to remain the same. Changing them here will not change the hot-key actions in the program.
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Empty Lines
Empty lines in the file have to remain as they are as the program reads the names by position. I've left a few open lines for items that may be added in the future.
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Using the Language file
After the translation is complete save the file in the "pse_xxxx.lng" format for archiving and then save it again under the key name "language" (no extension). It can be upper or lower case (although upper case looks like you're shouting). Once the file named "language" is placed in the Enhanced E's directory it will be recognized and loaded on the next startup of the program.
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Packaging the Language files
If you are willing to share your work, here again is the list of translated files that should be archived in together for your distributed translation package.
PSE_xxxx.lng (menu file where "xxxx" is gives language discription)
Trnsxxxx.txt (Translators [your] file where "xxxx" is gives language discription)
PSE_lang.txt (this file)
plus any other files you've translated -
As mentioned earlier the following files ARE NOT required to be translated but it would be beneficial to others that may want the translated information.
PSHelp.txt
Readme.txt
Register.txt
PSAbout.txt
PSWhats.new
PSeee_xx.txt (where xx is the version number)
File_ID.diz
In the "Trnsxxxx.txt" file put your name, personal information (if desired), country, version translated for, and a method to contact you (email etc).
Zip it all together in a zip file named the exactly like the "PSE_xxxx.lng" file but with the ".zip" extension. Your package is now ready for upload to the site of your choice. If you like, you may contact us for inclusion on the PillarSoft page and accessability to anyone with an internet connection.
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Notes
Use of a translation will neccessarily stretch the loading time of the editors while it sets all the data up. I've tried to make this program as thin as possible but adding this made the full Enhanced EE go from 5/10's of a second loading to almost 1.5 seconds. Now (v.12) I've changed the loading method for the language file. You can see the menu change from english to your lang right at the start. This saved another couple of tenths of a second loading. If it is too annoying let me know and I'll change it back.
If there is enough interest I would consider doing a version from the ground up in another language to make it native and faster loading. I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of interest shown so far in these editors. It does make mail call tough though so if you get short answers to questions, I hope you'll understand why. Registered users will always get preference...
It is late (or very early) and I'm tired... hope I didn't make too many mistakes...
