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We made a long chat session with Mike on the method of implementing internationalisation

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So what about generating the ASP pages in the desired language at forum installation time [ or later ] .
(...)
multiples forums in several languages could be handled whitout multiplying tables.

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what about the users messages, because even if all the forum strings are translated in any language, user will still post in their language.

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Q3. Where to keep the volatile data? Application object (server memory), file (server side include), JavaScript file (loaded once into users browsers' cache)?

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Application or Session object is beter.

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With volatile data I meant, the language strings itself (%99). So session object (per user!) is out of question


Bulent Ozden
History Foundation of Turkey


Edited by - bozden on 20 April 2002 09:00:37<

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We need to have a highly configurable dynamic system. Take the previous example. The company suddenly decides to support German also. You should be doing this on the fly while online (in the admin mode!). No need to create files, no need to FTP... FTP will be needed ofcourse if you add a new translation add-on.

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e.g. "Post updated", "new topic posted", "profile edited" a.s.f. could be just plain "Action complete - please wait..." or "updated", "posted" a.s.f.?

The system should in any order be MOD- COMPATIBLE, so that all the cool mod programmers have the best way of adding translations of their mods to the integrated translation system.

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strLangForumPosts = "The _1_forum has_forums have_1_ %1% post_1__s_1_ by %2% user_2__s_2_."
Response.Write TranslateString(strLangForumPosts, Array("100", "5"))

Function TranslateString(pstrMsg, pvarValues)
    Dim strLook
    Dim L
    Dim varValue
    Dim intCounter
    Dim strOut
    Dim strBit
    Dim i
    Dim j
    Dim k

    intCounter = 0
    strOut = pstrMsg
    For Each varValue In pvarValues
        intCounter = intCounter + 1
        strLook = "%" & intCounter & "%"
        L = Len(strLook)
        Do
            i = InStr(1, strOut, strLook)
            If i = 0 Then Exit Do
            strOut = Left(strOut, i - 1) & varValue & Mid(strOut, i + L)
        Loop
        strLook = "_" & intCounter & "_"
        Do
            i = InStr(1, strOut, strLook)
            If i = 0 Then Exit Do
            j = InStr(i + 1, strOut, strLook)
            If j = 0 Then Exit Do
            strBit = Mid(strOut, i + L, j - i - L)
            k = InStr(1, strBit, "_")
            If k = 0 Then Exit Do
            If "" & varValue = "1" Then
                strOut = Left(strOut, i - 1) & Left(strBit, k - 1) & Mid(strOut, j + L)
            Else
                strOut = Left(strOut, i - 1) & Mid(strBit, k + 1) & Mid(strOut, j + L)
            End If
        Loop
    Next
    
    TranslateString = strOut
End Function

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DC1. Multiple language support: The forum will include all current translations. Admin will enable some of them for a specific forum implementation. Users will be able to select among the admin enabled languages. Admin will be capable of selecting a default language. If the user does not prefer one, the default will be the active language. All these preference selections will be made online (in admin section and in the user profile). It will be good if the admin code checks the existence of files, similar to mods.

APPROACH 1 : FULL ASP

APPROACH 1a : FULL ASP WITH INCLUDES
One file (hardcoded) will be #include'd in config.asp (best place) as the language file. The file contains variable definitions
PROS: The easiest approach. Only one include (probably from cache) will speed up. Approach in DC7 can also be used for flexibility.
CONS: Against part of DC1: Only single language supported, so also DC5 is obsolate. File size bigger (ASP sends the result).
NOTE: This is not flexible enough, so probably this will not be used

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There is an approach that can solve problems with 1a

file: languages.asp

<%
intNumLanguages = 3 ' number of languages active

EN = 1 ' English
ES = 2 ' Spanish
DE = 3 ' German


redim hello(intNumLanguages)
redim bye(intNumLanguages)
redim profile(intNumLanguages)
...
...
%>
<--#INCLUDE FILE=langEN.asp-->
<--#INCLUDE FILE=langES.asp-->
<--#INCLUDE FILE=langDE.asp-->

-- end of languages.asp

file langEN.asp:

<%
hello(EN) = "Hello"
bye(EN) = "Bye"
profile(EN) = "profile"
....
%>

end of langEN.asp

file langES.asp

<%
hello(ES) = "Hola"
bye(ES) = "Adios"
profile(ES) = "perfil"
...
%>

end of langES.asp

So, user language can be stored in cookie, and you can use


<--#ICNLUDE FILE=languages.asp-->
<%
Response.Write Hello(intUserLanguage)
Response.Write Bye(intUserLanguage)


Other advantage of this method is that language workgroups can maintain their own language file



Marino
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