• 4.1 MODS IN GENERAL


• 4.2 GENERAL ISSUES


• 4.3 LANGUAGE FILE STRUCTURE FOR MODS


• 4.4 VARIABLE NAMING FOR MOD LANGUAGE STRINGS


• 4.5 LANGUAGE FILE EXAMPLES


• 4.6 DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION ISSUES


• 4.7

• There are "small scale" MODs (having 1-3 files/file changes, and less than 30-50 language strings), where you can use LangMODS.asp file to store them (active_users and Mail List Message Manager mods fall in this category - at least the versions I used. See below for more details)


• There are "large scale" MODs (having a lot of files/file changes, and more than 50-60 language strings), these must have a separate LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIER.asp file to store the DIM's and include its own language files LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNN.asp


• If you are just at the border of small and large, use large scale as future versions of your mod will usually contain more strings.


• There will be a performance difference between the two as the number of language file includes will change. Small scale MODs language resources will be loaded with every page hit, but will be ready to be used. On the other hand, large scale MOD idea uses more includes, but has the chance to be used only if that MODs page is called (meaning included by only that mods asp files).


• There will be a distribution/installation difference between the two. Large scale mod language resources will be easier to distribute/install, whereas small scale mods will need some (simple but careful) copy-paste operations.


• I would like to have a more general rule valid for every mode, but performance matters.

• If the mode changes the base forum asp files (such as default.asp) and does not add too many language strings, it will be better to consider them as small scale mods (the strings will be ready for use, no need to put some more includes for language resources).


• If they are standalone, use the logic given above to determine the type.

• Database related issues are explained in chapter 4.2 GENERAL ISSUES

• Please give a good and distinguishable name to your MOD. Also provide a short name to be used in language variables (the above mentioned MODs can have EVENTS, GB, LM or LINKS, MLMM, AU).* This will be used as your MODs <MODIDENTIFIER>.


• Please keep good versioning info like "Events Calendar v2sr1 for Snitz Forums 2000 v4.0beta". Make sure to use that version info in your language resources. Otherwise the language files will be messed by the users.


• It is wise to prefix each of your files with a common name like EVENTS_*.*. Do not use general names like readme.txt, language.asp which can overwrite other files. Instead use, EVENTS_readme.txt etc.

LINKS
FORUM_SPAM

Links
FORUM_spam

LINKS_CAT_ID
SPAM_MESSAGE

Links_Cat_id
cat_id
Spam_Message

LINK_ID
LINK_NAME

ID
NAME

strSql = "SELECT CAT_ID FROM LINKS;"

strSql = "select cat_id from links;"

• Use LangNNNNcontent_edit.gif as the name, where NNNN is the LCID value


• Refer to that file in your code as
  

  
  	<img src="Lang<%= strLangLCID %>content_edit.gif" width="30" height="10">
  



• Do not forget to provide additional space in the image for longer words in other languages (e.g. Turkish counterpart of "edit" is "düzelt" which needs more space. This may need to use a larger picture, needing change in the code (width= in this case), or the text will get distorted.


• Generally try to avoid text in images, use iconic images.

' === CONFIGURABLE PART ===
'## Links_affiliates.asp
	strLangMODS_LinksIconNew = "Lang" & strLangLCID & "LinksNew.gif"
	strLangMODS_Links06002 = "http://www.tarihvakfi.org.tr"	' configurable data
	strLangMODS_Links06003 = "../resources/images/tv_logo_10yil_tr1.gif"	' configurable data
	strLangMODS_Links06004 = "History Foundation of Turkey"			' configurable data
' === END CONFIGURABLE PART ===

  response.write "Gender: " & rs("GENDER")

  response.write "Gender: "
  Switch Case rs("GENDER")
  Case "1" response.write "Male"
  Case "2" response.write "Female"
  Case else response.write " "
  end switch

LangMODS.asp

'...
'... standart copyright info is stripped out to save space in this topic ...
'...
'## SNITZ FORUMS 2000 v4.0 LANGUAGE FILE FOR SMALL SIZED MODIFICATIONS
'Notes:
'1) The LangMODS.asp file is introduced in v4.0beta022patch004
'2) Make sure that you have LangMODS.asp included at the very bottom of the config.asp file
'3) The content will be distributed by LangMODSNNNN.txt files. 
'   These files will be found in the packages of v4 compatible MODs.
'4) Change the LCID values in the case statements to the ones you use on your forum installation


'## DIM ALL LANGUAGE VARIABLES

'## END DIM'MING

select case strLangLCID
'################# TURKISH ####################
case "1055"
	'################# MOD name
	' ## filename1
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in Turkish"
	...
	' ## filename2
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in Turkish"
	...

	'################# MOD name
	' ## filename1
	...

'################# ENGLISH ####################
case "1033"
	'################# MOD name
	' ## filename1
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in English"
	...
	' ## filename2
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in English"
	...

	'################# MOD name
	' ## filename1
	...

end select

strLangMODS_<MODIDENTIFIER>.asp

strLangMODS_<MODIDENTIFIER><NNNNN>.asp

<strLangMODS_>  is a fixed prefix for ALL MOD language files
<MODIDENTIFIER> is a unique name for the mod (may be acronym/abbreviation)
<NNNNN>         is the LCID value

'## SNITZ FORUM 2000 MOD LANGUAGE FILE

'## DIM ALL LANGUAGE VARIABLES
DIM strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN, strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN
...
DIM strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN
'## END DIM'ING

select case strLangLCID
  case "1055"%>
	<!--#INCLUDE FILE="LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN.asp" -->
<%case "1033"%>
	<!--#INCLUDE FILE="LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN.asp" -->
<%end select%>

'...
'... standart copyright info is stripped out to save space in this topic ...
'...
'... STANDART FILENAME/DESRIPTION/COMPATIBILITY/AUTHOR/TRANSLATOR/LANGUAGE/LAST MODIFIED/... info
' === CONFIGURABLE PART ===
'## put any configurable variable based data here
	....
' === END CONFIGURABLE PART ===

	'## filename1
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in this language"
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in this language"
	...
	'## filename2
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in this language"
	...
	'## filenameN
	strLangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNNN = "String in this language"
	...
%>

<strLangMODS_><MODIDENTIFIER><NNNNN>

<strLangMODS_>  is a fixed prefix for ALL MOD language strings
<MODIDENTIFIER> is a unique name for the mod (may be acronym/abbreviation)
<NNNNN>         is a unique numbering scheme (see below)

<%	'## Links.asp
	strLangMODS_Links00001 = "All Forums"
	strLangMODS_Links00002 = "Links Manager"
	'## Links_menu.asp
	strLangMODS_Links01001 = "Add URL"
	strLangMODS_Links01002 = "New Links"
	strLangMODS_Links01003 = "Popular Links"
	strLangMODS_Links01004 = "Top Rated"
	strLangMODS_Links01005 = "Random Link"
	strLangMODS_Links01006 = "search"
	strLangMODS_Links01007 = "Results :"
	'## Links_add_form.asp
	strLangMODS_Links02001 = "Submit URL"
	strLangMODS_Links02002 = "Category:"
	strLangMODS_Links02003 = "Website Title:"
	...

• Do not allow unnecessary multiple definitions for the same string in one file. You may allow (or not allow, if you want to make it more flexible) multiple definitions.
  
  For example never have:
  

  
  	strLangMODS_Links02010 = "Submit URL"
  	strLangMODS_Links02110 = "Submit URL"
  

  
  
  But it will add some flexibility to have (it will same some space/translation if you don't do this. I preferred not to have such duplicates!!!):
  

  
  	' file 1
  	strLangMODS_Links00010 = "Submit URL"
  	...
  	' file 3
  	strLangMODS_Links02110 = "Submit URL"
  	...
  

  
  


• Start with the main file of your mod. Especially if you do not allow multiple definitions of the same string, this will save coding/translation/adaptation time.


• Number the strings in the same file from top to buttom. This will ease the location of them in the future.

	strLangMODS_UserFields00010 = "Phone Number:"

<td bgColor="<% =strPopUpTableColor %>" align=right nowrap valign=top>
  <b><font face="<% =strDefaultFontFace %>" size="<% =strDefaultFontSize %>">
  <% =fLang(strLangMODS_UserFields00010) %> 
  </font></b>
</td>

• A mod has versions (and there is no standart versioning for mods)


• A mod version is compatible for a set of Snitz Forum Versions (and usually there is no way of knowing the compatibility until you use them in each version)


• A mod will have several language resources for each language (i.e. LCID value)

• Every new ASP file the MOD introduces


• New Image file the MOD introduces (files without text information)


• Other support files (dbs, readme, etc - English only)


• English-US (LCID=1033) Language Resources (see below)


• (Optional) one other language resource for testing (see below).

• New Image files the MOD introduces (having textual information, i.e. in LangNNNNxxx.gif format)


• LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIER.ASP file


• LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNN.ASP file


• A standart LangMODS_MODIDENTIFIERNNNN.txt file which tells about the installation to LangMODS.asp or as is.