Localization

[Service-Team]

Silverjuke uses the "gettext" system for localisation of the strings appearing in the user interface. This means, you can use all common tools to edit the files belonging to a localization project. However, for people who do not know "gettext", here's a brief overview:


A brief overview

"gettext" uses two file types: So called "Portable Objects" with the extension *.po and so called "Machine objects" with the extension *.mo -- the first file type will be edited during the translation process, and the latter is then created from it. Only *.mo files are usable from within Silverjuke.

So the steps at a glance are: Download a *.po object from this site, edit it and then create a *.mo file which may then be shared with other users.


What's needed

To edit *.po files, you only need a text-editor. However, we won't describe the syntax of *.po files here. An easier way is to use a special program for this purpose: poEdit is a good choice. So first of all download and install poEdit from the following site:

http://www.poedit.net

You may decide to use another editor, however, the following steps are described using poEdit.


Let's start!

To start a localisation, please download one of the the "Portable Object" (*.po) files from "Skins+More" at http://www.silverjuke.net/en/extend?p=langpack and save it to your Silverjuke directory beside "Silverjuke.exe". Eg. the file "de.po" contains the english strings as sources and German strings as the current translation (which will be replaced by your translation).

After the download, rename the file to the two-letter abbreviation of the language to create, use eg. "fr" for "French" or "es" for "Spanish".

Then, just open the file in poEdit and define the new language and the new country using "Catalog/Settings/Project info", you can also add your e-mail address there. Moreover, make sure, the "Machine objects" (*.mo) files are written automatically, see "File/Preferences/Editor/Automatically compile .mo files on save".

Now you can begin with the translation: poEdit shows the original strings aleft and the translated strings (still German) aright. First select the original string "Cancel" and adapt the translated string in the text field abottom.

For a first try, save your project now and start Silverjuke. In Silverjuke, open "Settings/Basic settings/Languages" where your new language should appear in the list. Select it and restart Silverjuke. Now, Silverjuke should come along in German, but the button "Cancel" should have the new translation in all dialogs now.

If all this works, you can translate all other strings.


Placeholders and special strings

Many strings contain placeholders as "%s" or "%i" which will be replaced by other strings by Silverjuke. You have to leave all placeholders in the same order in your translation. Also, if possible, leave other special characters as trailing columns (":"), included pipes ("|"), three points ("...") or surrounding brackets. The meaning of most placeholders and special characters is explained in the comment window in poEdit (make sure "View/Show comment window" is enabled).

Some strings are not really translatable strings but settings for the locale. The original strings of these strings begin and end with two underscores, eg. "__DATE_SUNDAY_FIRST__". Again, the meaning and the possible values are explained in the comment window inside poEdit.


Publishing your work

We would be very happy if we can publish your work on silverjuke.net -- for this purpose, just send the *.mo and *.po files attached to an e-mail to drsilver@silverjuke.net. You may also include your name, your e-mail and a comment to appear on our website.

For any problems on your localization work, feel free to contact us via e-mail or to post any questions to this forum.


Thanks for reading,
Your Silverjuke Team

[Service-Team]

If you also want to translate the "First steps" that are shown on the first start of Silverjuke or in the "About Silverjuke" dialog, you have to download one of the *.html files in the "Skins+Modules" forum - viewtopic.php?t=183 gives an overview.

The files contains simple HTML - just translate the file in any text editor.

For formatting your text, please only use the HTML-Tags for paragraphs, bold, italic and anchors ("p", "b", "i" and "a" surrounded by "<" and ">"). The anchors are a little special, leave them as they are, however, you can translate the text to appear for an anchor.

For a first test, you can open the file in your browser.

If you are ready with your translation, copy the whole file to the string "__HELP__" of poEdit; just use the clipboard for this purpose.

If this all seems to be too complicated, you can also open the HTML-file eg. in Microsoft Word and send us the translated *.doc file together with the translated *.po file.

[Service-Team]

If wanted, you can also embed a virtual keyboard layout to the locale. For this purpose, just copy the keyboard definition to the field "__VIRT_KEYBD__" of the *.po file.

A description, about how to define virtual keyboards is placed in the following thread:

http://forum.silverjuke.net/viewtopic.php?t=72