Note:
If you have already started translating XWorkplace, please do read the
changelog.txt
file. Please mind these important changes,
or the current XWorkplace version will not run with your NLS files properly.
Legal notes. XWorkplace is placed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), including the National Language Support (NLS). If you translate the NLS part to your language, you create "a work based on the Program" in the GPL sense. As a result, the GPL automatically applies to your translation too.
This means that you have to publish your source code also.
Now, to move away from the Legalese, I suggest that you do not distribute XWorkplace NLS packages yourself. Note that this is not a legal requirement (you may do so if you ship the source code also), but for practical reasons, mainly the following two:
For one, all the NLS packages should be available from my homepage for convience.
Secondly, since I might update XWorkplace after you have finished your work on your NLS version, XWorkplace might have trouble cooperating with your files. Internal IDs might change and/or new features might be added. So if you have finished creating your NLS package, please contact me, and I will put in on my homepage and upload it to the usual places where XWorkplace is normally available.
This seems like the best solution to be, because I have a list of places which carry XWorkplace, and I can update all the NLS packages myself when anything changes with XWorkplace. This way, my homepage will always be the place to look for up-to-date NLS packages.
Thus, when you're done translating, please zip up the complete directory tree again and mail the ZIP file back to me.
How it works. XWorkplace NLS packages identify themselves to the XWorkplace core via country codes, as described on the "COUNTRY" page in the OS/2 Command Reference (CMDREF.INF).
XWorkplace's language depends on exactly one setting in OS2.INI (application "XWorkplace", key "LanguageCode"). If that setting is changed, XWorkplace assumes a whole new set of language files to be present.
With the XWorkplace sources, you will find everything for creating the English
NLS package, as it comes with the standard XWorkplace binary release.
The language code for English is "001". Everything that is related
to English NLS is therefore in the 001\
directory tree.
The first step you'll have to take is finding out your country code. For example, Italian would be 039.
Unfortunately, XWorkplace's National Language Support (NLS) is spread across quite a number of files, which have different file formats.
Basically, XWorkplace's NLS can be separated into three parts:
Here we have:
bin
subdirectory.
This file contains all language-dependent Presentation Manager (PM) resources,
mostly dialogs and menus. Also, a lot of strings are stored here.
The NLS DLL is called XFLDRxxx.DLL
, with "xxx" being your
three-digit language code.
The files neccessary to translate this DLL are in the 001\dll
directory. All this goes into bin\xfldr001.dll
in the binary
release.
See "The main NLS DLL" for details.
With V0.9.0, the message file format has changed. Previously, the file was
called XFLDRxxx.MSG
, with "xxx" being your
three-digit language code, and an IBM utility called MKMSGF.EXE
was
required to compile the actual message file. Now, this file has the .TMF
ending and is compiled at run-time into that file's extended attributes, so there's
no additional utilities needed.
This file is 001\misc\xfldr001.tmf
in the sources. This is
help\xfldr001.tmf
in the binary release.
See "The main NLS DLL" for details.
This file is called XFCLSxxx.TXT
, with "xxx" being your
three-digit language code. It also resides in the 001\misc
directory.
See "Other files" for details.
001\misc
subdirectory
and go into install\
in the binary release.
See "Other files" for details.
Here we have:
This file is called XFLDRxxx.INF
, with "xxx" being your
three-digit language code.
The HTML source files neccessary to translate this file are in the 001/inf.001
subdirectory.
See "The INF and HLP files" for details.
This file is called XFLDRxxx.HLP
, with "xxx" being your
three-digit language code.
The files neccessary to translate this file are in the 001/xwphelp
subdirectory.
See "The INF and HLP files" for details.
MISC
directory for details.
TOOLS
directory contains a valuable tool for converting
HTML files to the IBM (IPF) format. This will be described on a
separate page.
This directory also contains a few other needed tools. See the
separate README in that directory.
BTW: I'm really curious how "Snap to grid" sounds in your language. ;-)