Mega Code Archive

Another way to build multilingual applications

Title: Another way to build multilingual applications Question: How can I build multilingual applications Answer: Making your application multilingual really is a necessity these days. Not only does it count as an extra feature with what to advertise your software, but it also multiplies the number of your potential customers. So far, most software has only been developed in English and it has been considered to be a fair assumption that everyone knows enough English to use that software. This no longer applies. Think about the fact, that there are more people in the world that do not speak English, than those who do. So, to settle with developing applications that only work in English means that you are in fact giving up on a very large market area world-wide. Then why not make applications work in many languages? Maybe you are thinking about the amount of extra work invloved: planning your projects, re-structuring them, re-coding and translating - as if you didn't have your hands full with just the basic programming tasks! Luckily, there are ways to achieve the world-wide markets, perhaps more easily than you would have ever believed to be true. One such way is to use MULTILIZER. It is a set of VCL components and a Language Manager utility, which together form a complete solution for all software localization needs. Some of the key features are : The ability to create one single world-wide binary executable, which contains all translation data. Minimal amount of re-structuring your projects. No need to program in a special way. Minimal amount of re-coding, if any. Pre-translated glossaries, containing all the standard GUI strings in many different languages, keeping your application's interface consistent. Re-usable translations. Save your translations and use them in your future projects as well. Support for many different developing environments. Whether you use Delphi, C++ Builder, Java, or any other supported language, you can use the same translations. Translate all standard VCL component properties, common dialogs, VCL messages, as well as 3rd party components. And even your own properties. Can be used in existing projects as well as new ones. So, exactly how much extra work is needed to achieve all this? Surprisingly not much. The 3 simple steps of building a multilingual application with MULTILIZER are : Use Language Manager utility to extract all the properties that need to be translated from the project. Language Manager is included in every MULTILIZER version. Use the pre-translated glossaries to automatically translate all standard strings, and send the rest to a translator. Figure 1: Language Manager Add a Dictionary component to your application's main form. Set it's DictionaryName property to the dictionary file which was created by Language Manager. To each form that needs to be translated, add one Translator component. Figure 2: the basic MULTILIZER components Build your application. It is now multilingual and will automatically start in the language that is selected to be the default language of the user's system. The user does not need to do anything! Figure 3: sample application running in Arabic You can later add new languages to your applications even without re-compiling them. Just open the dictionary file with Language Manager and add a language to it. Also, you can re-use all translations at any later projects. For more detailed information, see : http://www.multilizer.com . You can also download a fully functional evaluation copy at : http://www.multilizer.com/download/ .