Localizing Mono.Addins.Gui user interface

[Jordi Mas]

Hola!

I'm using Mono.Addins in an application.  I'm calling Mono.Addins.Gui.AddinManagerWindow.Run to show the Addin Manager.

I was expecting the translation of this library UI to be self-contained, in the same way that most of the libraries do (with their own po's). However, it is not.

Any recommendation of which is the best approach to show the AddIn Manager localized?

I do not want to include the strings in my application .mo file because I will need to keep them always synchronised with Mono.Addins.Gui.

Thanks folks,

Jordi,

[Lluis Sanchez]

El dg 21 de 12 de 2008 a les 17:00 +0100, en/na Jordi Mas va escriure:

> Hola!
>
> I'm using Mono.Addins in an application. I'm calling
> Mono.Addins.Gui.AddinManagerWindow.Run to show the Addin Manager.
>
> I was expecting the translation of this library UI to be
> self-contained, in the same way that most of the libraries do (with
> their own po's). However, it is not.

The main reason for not having a translation like other Linux libraries
is that this library must work on Windows and can't depend on gettext.
In fact, I could add a gettext translation for Mono.Addins.Gui since it
already requires gtk#, but not in Mono.Addins or Mono.Addins.Setup. I
don't yet have a solution for those libraries.

>
> Any recommendation of which is the best approach to show the AddIn
> Manager localized?

The only way right now is to include the strings in the application.

[Jordi Mas]

Hola Lluís,

The main reason for not having a translation like other Linux libraries
is that this library must work on Windows and can't depend on gettext.
In fact, I could add a gettext translation for Mono.Addins.Gui since it
already requires gtk#, but not in Mono.Addins or Mono.Addins.Setup. I
don't yet have a solution for those libraries.

What about using XML files to store the localizations? These are supported in all platforms.

In a very similar way what you support StringTables for localizing plugins.

> 
> Any recommendation of which is the best approach to show the AddIn
> Manager localized? 

The only way right now is to include the strings in the application. 

I will do so for now.  But this is far from ideal in the medium term.

Congratulations for Mono.Addins. It really rocks.

Thanks,

Jordi,

["Andrés G. Aragoneses"]

Just my 2 cents:

Jordi Mas wrote:
> Hola Lluís,
>
>> The main reason for not having a translation like other Linux libraries
>> is that this library must work on Windows and can't depend on gettext.

This is indeed a very good point. I remember that in my previous company
we evaluated the gettext method for translating our apps and it was not
feasible in the Windows platform because of the amount of dependencies
required (which, since they are not so common on Windows, added a ton of
useless megabytes to the app). We then created an enhancement in
Bugzilla asking for a managed implementation of gettext, that didn't
rely on these core libraries, but we never got it done (although some
time later someone proposed a solution on the bug, see below).

>> In fact, I could add a gettext translation for Mono.Addins.Gui since it
>> already requires gtk#, but not in Mono.Addins or Mono.Addins.Setup. I
>> don't yet have a solution for those libraries.
>
> What about using XML files to store the localizations? These are
> supported in all platforms.

This is a good idea, but then it would mean having 2 different i18n
methods in Mono.Addins, unless you drop the use of gettext in
Mono.Addins.Gui as well, right? Other options are:
- Create a wrapper library that exposes the process in XML but in Unix
platforms it generates .mo files and links statically with gettext
(Mono.Unix). The problem about this is that you loose the possibility of
using the l10n addin of MD.
- Use the managed gettext solution proposed on
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=325517. However I don't know
about the implications or limitations of using this in MonoAddins and/or
the l10n of MD.

Regards,

Andrés