SFM export missing variant type

[Jeff Heath]

I'm trying to export a Flex database to SFM, for some text processing, and was surprised to see that variant type isn't getting exported. Here is a (somewhat simplified) view of a record with its Plural variant form:

\lx alaakha
\lx_CARS alaakha
\lx_CAAS عَلَاقَةْ
\va alaakhaat
\vet
\sn 1
\ps_Eng Noun
\ps_Frn Nom
\g_Eng alliance
\g_Frn relation, alliance
\ng_Eng n.f
\dt 02/Jan/2021

\lx alaakhaat
\lx_CARS alaakhaat
\lx_CAAS عَلَاقَاتْ
\vt
\mn alaakha
\dt 19/Dec/2020

It seems like \vt might be variant type, but it is empty. I don't know what the \vet field is in the main entry under the variant reference. I don't see any way to configure the SFM output. Any suggestions how I can export that information?

[Jeff Heath]

No takers on this question? Is it not possible to export variant type in an SFM output?

[Ron Moe]

It has been so long since I used MDF that I've forgotten many of the strategies for dealing with such things. The MDF manual implies that variant comments should be put in the \ve 'Variant English' field. This would be something like a dialect name or sociolect name like "older speakers".

This points out the many deficiencies of MDF. FLEx is far more careful in how the lexicon is structured and how a dictionary can model and capture the structure. So when you go from FLEx to MDF, you are going to run into these problems.

Ron Moe

--
"FLEx list" messages are public. Only members can post.
flex_d...@sil.org
http://groups.google.com/group/flex-list.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "FLEx list" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to flex-list+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/flex-list/586c3286-b6ce-41eb-a067-89ec5f2092f6n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jenni Beadle]

There used to be a way of customing the export but I see that it was removed as it wasn’t reliable.

 

As a workaround, have you tried adding a custom field and copying the contents of the variant type field?

 

I just tried it on a couple of projects. The first came out as:

\lx nəkti

\lx_mcw nəkti

\vt

\mn nəŋti

\z3 Free Variant

\dt 25/Jun/2022

 

The second project had \z38 fields. The markers were interesting. Neither related to the name of my custom field but they have the desired variant type contents.

 

Just a thought.

 

Jenni

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/flex-list/CABMU4AyUimF7XuhJrRwM8%3DSA4vNeFWw0rFXqt28oUWE72CyEmg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Jeff Heath]

Thanks for the various input. I communicated a bit with Beth and Ken Z, and there does seem to be some problem with the export. I sent Ken a project which shows the problem. I didn’t try Jenni’s suggestion, as I had already come up with another solution: I wrote a Python script which parses a LIFT file and outputs the fields that I need, including the variant information. The script actually makes two passes and deals with the variants on the second pass, because by then I have built a dictionary (in the Python sense) of all of the entries with their id’s, so I also have access to information in the main entry that is linked to by the reference in the variant entry.

So I have a solution to my problem now.