kpfTranslate: Create a POT file or use a PO file to allow translating...
In svIDE: Functions to Ease Interactions Between R and IDE or Code Editors

Description Usage Arguments Details Value Author(s)

Komodo Edit/IDE (code editor programs) use projects and packages for easy customization. However, these projects/packages are static elements that do not allow to use translation facilites easily. The kpX2pot() and kpXTranslate() functions provide a mechanism to use poEdit (a program designed to translate strings for software) to ease and automatise translation of such Komodo projets/packages (see details section for the procedure).

kpf2pot(kpfFile, potFile)
kpz2pot(kpzFile, potFile)
kpfTranslate(kpfFile, langs, poFiles, kpf2Files)
kpzTranslate(kpzFile, langs, poFiles, kpz2Files)

`kpfFile`	a Komodo project file with a .kpf extension to be translated.
`kpzFile`	a Komodo package file with a .kpz extension to be translated.
`potFile`	the name of a .pot file providing strings to be translated, if not provided, it is the same name as the .kpf/.kpz file, but with a .pot extension instead.
`langs`	the language(s) to translate to, for instance, 'fr' for French, 'de' for German, 'it' for Italian, 'en_GB' for Great Britain's English, etc.
`poFiles`	the path to the .po files containing the translations. If not provided, it is assumed to be the basename of the .kpf/.kpz file without extension, plus '-', plus langs and with a .po extension. For instance, the default translation file for `myproject.kpf` into French is named `myproject-fr.po`.
`kpf2Files`	the Komodo project files to create with the translations. If not provided, it is assumed to be the same as the initial project file, but with '-lang' appended to the base name. For instance, the French translation of `myproject.kpf` would be `myproject-fr.kpf` in the same directory, by default.
`kpz2Files`	same as kpf2Files, but for Komodo package files with a .kpz extension.

Komodo Edit/IDE are code editor programs that can be used to edit R code efficiently with the SciViews-K plugin (see http://www.sciviews.org/SciViews-K). Komodo can be customized by using projects files (files with a .kpf extension), or tools collected together in the toolbox and that can be saved on disk in Komodo package files (with a .kpz extension).

Among the tools you can place in a Komodo project or package, there are macros (written in JavaScript or Python). Thanks to the SciViews-K plugin, you have access to R and R code inside these macros. This makes it a good candidate for writing GUI elements, including dialog boxes, on top of your favorite R code editor. You can also add 'snippets' in those projects/packages. Snippets are short pieces of code, including R code, you can save and retrieve easily. In the snippets, you can define replaceable parts, includings parts you replace after prompting the user for their values with a dialog box. SciViews uses these features extensively, for instance, for the 'R reference' toolbox (a kind of electronic reference card for R code).

Unfortunately, these tools do not benefit easily from translation features. So, it is hard to maintain the same project/package in different languages. The functions provided here ease the maintenance of such projects/packages translated in various languages. Here is how you can use them:

1) Save your Komodo project or package on disk (click on the project and use context menu to save it, or select all items you want to package in your toolbox and also use to context menu to create the package file).

2) Use the kpX2pot() function to create, or update a .pot file. This file lists all translatable strings found in the project/package. Translatable strings are: (a) names of tools or folders, (b) items in snippets that are flagged with %ask:R-desc:, %ask:R-tip:, %ask:URL-help:, %ask:RWiki-help:, %pref:URL-help:, %pref:RWiki-help, and %tr: (see Komodo help to learn how to use these tags in snippets), and (c) strings in JavaScript macros that are flagged with _(). For instance, creating a .pot file for ~/myproject.kpf is as simple as calling kpf2pot("~/myproject.kpf").

3) Use the poEdit program (search Google to find, download and install this free Open Source translation utility, if you don't have it yet) to translate the extracted strings. The first time, you create a .po file based on the .pot template you just created. For subsequent versions of your project/package, you reuse the old .po file and select menu entry 'Catalog -> Update from POT file...' in poEdit to update your translation file with new strings found in the recent .pot file. You are better to place the .po file in the same directory as your project/package and to give it the same name, but replacing .kpX by -<lang>.po, where <lang> is the language in which you do the translation. You can distribute .pot files to a staff of translators that would send you back the created/modified .po files for compilation. See the poEdit documentation for further help (note that multiline strings and singular/plural forms are not supported yet by kpXTranslate()).

4) Once you have your .po files ready, you can translate your Komodo project/package in these languages easily. For instance, a project file ~/myproject.kpf can be translated in French, using the .po file ~/myproject-fr.po and in Italian using a .po file ~/myproject-it.po. To do so, you simply type kpfTranslate("~/myproject.kpf") in R. That produces a ~/myproject-fr.kpf file that contains your Komodo project translated in French, and a ~/myproject-it.kpf file with your Italian translation. Please, note that kpzTranslate() currently needs to access the external zip program for zipping the .kpz file. This program is usually accessible from within Linux or Mac OS X by default, but needs to be installed (and made accessible through the PATH) under Windows.

5) To open your translated project/package in Komodo, just drag and drop the new file in the central area of the Komodo window, and the project is open in the projects tabs at left, or the content of the package is added in you toolbox at right, depending on the type of file you use.

These functions return invisibly TRUE if the targetted files are created, or FALSE otherwise. Use any(kpfTranslate("myfile.kpf")) to check that ALL translations are done.

Philippe Grosjean <phgrosjean@sciviews.org>

svIDE documentation built on May 2, 2019, 3 p.m.