ref: 948870cffe2572efb68ef0b3873b36238fb53263
dir: /man/2/translate/
.TH TRANSLATE 2
.SH NAME
translate: opendict, opendicts, mkdictname \- translation dictionaries
.SH SYNOPSIS
.EX
include "translate.m";
translate := load Translate Translate->PATH;
Dict: adt {
new: fn(): ref Dict;
add: fn(d: self ref Dict, file: string): string;
xlate: fn(d: self ref Dict, s: string): string;
xlaten: fn(d: self ref Dict, s: string, note: string): string;
};
init: fn();
opendict: fn(file: string): (ref Dict, string);
opendicts: fn(files: list of string): (ref Dict, string);
mkdictname: fn(locale, app: string): string;
.EE
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B Translate
module provides access to the translation dictionaries
defined by
.IR translate (6),
intended for the translation of
text from one natural language to another.
.PP
.B Init
should be called before using any of these functions.
.PP
.B Opendict
opens a dictionary
.I file
(of the format defined below) and returns a tuple:
a reference to a
.B Dict
that represents it and a diagnostic string (which is nil if no error occurred).
.B Opendicts
is similar, but loads each of the
.I files
in turn into the same
.BR Dict ,
producing a composite dictionary in which translations in later files can override
translations in earlier ones;
the diagnostic string summarises all errors (if any).
.PP
.B Mkdictname
returns the conventional name of a dictionary file given
locale and application names.
The
.I locale
is normally
.B nil
to use the current locale, which is formed by
binding the desired locale directory (or directories) onto
.BR /lib/locale .
.PP
.B Dict.new
returns an empty dictionary.
.B Dict.add
loads the given dictionary
.I file
into an existing dictionary, returning a non-nil diagnostic string on error.
Translations are made by
.B Dict.xlate
and
.BR Dict.xlaten :
they look for a string
.I s
(eg, text in one language),
optionally qualified by a
.IR note ,
and return the corresponding translation text from the dictionary.
If no such translation exists, they return the original text
.IR s .
.SH EXAMPLE
The following shows one possible style of use:
.PP
.EX
.ta 4n 8n 12n 16n 20n
include "translate.m";
translate: Translate;
Dict: import translate;
dict: ref Dict;
X(s: string): string
{
if(dict == nil)
return s;
return dict.xlate(s);
}
init(ctxt: ref Draw->Context, args: list of string)
{
...
translate = load Translate Translate->PATH;
if(translate != nil){
translate->init();
(dict, nil) = translate->opendict(
translate->mkdictname("", "vmail"));
}
...
optioncfg := array [] of {
"frame .op -relief flat -borderwidth 8",
"frame .op.lbs",
"label .op.lbs.a -text {" +
X("Voice Mail Active") + ":}",
"label .op.lbs.g -text {" +
X("Answer Calls With") + ":}",
"label .op.lbs.r -text {" +
X("Rings before Answering") + ":}",
"label .op.lbs.l -text {" +
X("Length of Incoming Messages") + ":}}",
...
};
...
wmlib->tkcmds(top, optioncfg);
}
.EE
.PP
The intermediate function
.B X
is defined to allow the program to be used (albeit with text in English) even
when the
.B Translate
module cannot be loaded.
.SH FILES
.BI /locale/ locale /dict/ app
.SH SOURCE
.B /appl/lib/translate.b
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR translate (6)