Multilingual dialogues

[Rob Cozens]

David,

>Had a go with the Profile Manager - but not managed to get it to work
>reliably

The problem I have with using the Profile Manager is, AFAIK, there is no 
way for the user to add a new profile at runtime; so you're stuck with the 
languages set up when the app ships.  Updating menu & menuItem names, tool 
tips, dialog prompts, error messages, etc. from a file, local or global 
variable allows your app to be user-translatable -- not limited to support 
for built in languages.

BTW, I use icons with translatable tool tips in place of label text 
fields.  I think it gives my apps a more international feel.

Also, it's fairly simple to design a translation stack that opens a text 
file, displays the contents one line at a time above an empty field where 
the translator can type the text in another language, and saves the 
completed translation in a new file.  This is much friendlier than telling 
the user, "Use you text editor to translate the language file" me thinks.

You might check out how Serendipity Library does it (including the 
translation substack) <http://wecode.org/serendipity/>.  To do so:

* Download sdbTools.rev and place it in the Revolution PlugIn folder
* Download Serendipity_Library.rev and place it in the folder you use for 
Revolution development & testing
* Download Serendipity_Library.sga, and expand the archive using 
sdbTools'  "Expand a Folder" menuItem under "File"
* See the Read Me stacks in the archive folder

Rob Cozens CCW
Serendipity Software Company

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
  Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

  from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)