converting a database in MSWord to a format usable for importing into FLEx

[Coleen Starwalt]

Greetings again.

I have a database of about 2000 words that is in a table in a Word
document. I have 8 columns right now with the following information in
them:

1. word in the orthography (more or less - I'm using IPA characters
rather than the legacy font that the data originally was in 15+ years
ago.)
2. word in IPA doulos (phonetic transcription)
3. Gloss (in French, but I'd like to have it in English ultimately)
4. Grammatical information
5. Tonal melody (using an ad hoc method we developed based on the
first letter of the French H (haut), M (moyen), B (bas), BF (bas
fond), HM (haut-moyen) but also English HF (high falling), etc.
6. IPA pitch characters that are more specific than the tone letters
7. stem type
8. stem syllable structure

What do I need to do to get these data in a FLEx friendly format for
importing to a new project? I looked at the help files in FLEx and
well, i don't speak html, so it was all Greek to me (and my Greek is
currently better!)

I suppose the database could be converted to the old style \le, etc.as
I think FLEx handles that, right? and that there would need to be
some sort of change table written for it, right? If that is the case
and someone can lead me through the steps of creating a change table
(within Word?) that would automate it and put the info like it needs
to be for FLEx, I'd be much appreciatin' it.

Coleen

[Jeff and Peg Shrum]

Coleen HTML is not necessary

Convert the table to an Excel spread sheet
Insert a blank row across the top of the spread sheet
At the top of each column type the appropriate Standard Format Marker
(\lx for lexeme, \ge for gloss English, \gn for French, \ps part of speech,
etc)
Use "sheetswiper.exe" to convert the spread sheet to an SFM file (sometimes
called a Toolbox file)
http://code.google.com/p/sheetswiper/downloads/list
Open a new project in Flex
Define any writing systems that are needed (French and English will be
there, but you will need two writing systems for
the vernacular, one for IPA and one for the practical orthography)
Create any custom fields that are needed if any
Go to file --> import and choose import USFM file
Follow the steps there mapping all fields that are red to the appropriate
fields in Flex
Then it should import.

If everything is already Unicode, then the importation will go fine,
otherwise you
will have to assign the necessary converters to each field during import.
Depending on the data there could be many details to iron out. I am unclear
on the tone melodies, are you using standard characters or a legacy font for
those as well?

Jeff S.
Language Technology Consultant
SIL Mozambique

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[J V C]

The easiest option would probably be to paste the data into a
spreadsheet, and then run this utility to convert it to SFM:
http://projects.palaso.org/projects/sheetswiper

I've not used it myself, but I've done something very similar manually.
Something like this:
- copy/paste into Excel, then insert an extra column between each column
- autofill \lx into every cell in the new first column
- ditto with the other new columns; e.g. put \gn before every French gloss
- copy the table back into Word
- use Table, Convert Text to Table, using tab as the separator
- Find all ^t\ and replace all with ^p\
- Find all remaining ^t and replace all with a space
- Save as plain text (.txt is fine)

Whichever option you choose, you'll end up with an SFM file, which you
can then import into FLEx.

I would use standard MDF markers such as \lx (rather than the old \le)
and \gn, since FLEx understands MDF by default. But what matters is not
their backslash codes but what they get mapped to in the import
settings. So, you can name the other fields with whatever unique codes
you want, and import them all as custom fields. Well, you could import
your #4 straight into FLEx's grammatical info if your data is really
clean and consistent English (\ps) or French (\pn). But otherwise it's
less cleanup to just use a custom field initially and use bulk edit to
translate that into FLEx categories later.

You can make up any backslash code for your phonetic transcription, but
you probably don't want to map it to a custom field. Mapping it to the
Pronunciation field or to a second writing system of Lexeme Form would
both make sense to me, but I'd lean slightly toward the latter. Maybe
someone else on this list could argue for one or the other more
specifically.

Jon