Translating SciDAVis

Using Qt Linguist

You may be surprised how easy translating SciDAVis is. Here are step by step instructions:

1. Make sure you have Qt Linguist installed on your system. On Windows it will come with the Qt/Windows Open Source Edition. On Linux you just have to install it using your package manager.

2. Download the translation sources. The file name will be “scidavis_XX.ts” where “XX” is the ISO two-letter code for the language in question (“scidavis_de.ts” for German, “scidavis_fr.ts” for French and so on). If it is available, get the corresponding phrase book “scidavis_XX.qph” too. Phrase books help keeping translations of frequently occurring words and expressions consistent. For more information on phrase books, please refer to the Qt Linguist Manual.

   If the file for your language does not exist yet, create it as described in the appendix below.

   Language	Translation Source	Phrase Book	Status
   French	scidavis_fr.ts		31%
   German	scidavis_de.ts	scidavis_de.qph	100%
   Russian	scidavis_ru.ts		100%
   Spanish	scidavis_es.ts		100%
   Swedish	scidavis_sv.ts		31%

3. Start Qt Linguist and open the .ts file corresponding to the language you want to translate SciDAVis to.

4. The window of the Qt Linguist should look like this:

5. Now you can start translating:

   At the left hand side, there is a list with all string pairs, i.e. source strings and translation strings. You can totally ignore all strings with a gray checkmark, these are texts removed from the application. They are only kept as hints for similar strings. All strings marked with a green checkmark are already finished. Ignore them unless you want to proof read existing translations. So you only have to concern yourself with strings marked by a question mark or an exclamation mark.

   As soon as you select one, the source text and a possible unconfirmed translation will appear on the upper right side. Below that, translation hints are given. All you have to do now ist enter the correct translation below “Translation” and press Ctrl+Return. You can use the phrases and guesses below by simply double clicking them. Ctrl+B will copy the source string into the translation field.

6. Once you are finished, just save the file and send it (and the phrase file if you modified it) to the SciDAVis developers.

That’s all!

For more information refer to the Qt Linguist Manual.

Appendix

Generating a new .ts file for your language

• Unpack the full source code of SciDAVis.
• Go to the “scidavis” directory.
• Edit the file “sourcefiles.pri” and add your language file to the “TRANSLATIONS += ...” list.
• Execute

  1 lupdate scidavis.pro

• Open the language file with Qt Linguist, go to the “Edit” menu and adjust the translation file settings accordingly.

Testing your translation

• Go to the “scidavis” directory of the source code.
• Execute

  1 lrelease scidavis.pro

• This will generate a “scidavis_XX.qm” file, which you have to copy into the folder (depending on your system) containing the other SciDAVis translations.
• Start SciDAVis and select your language in the settings.