Re: [babel-dev] DO NOT TRANSLATE properties files and quote handling

[Kit Lo <kitlo@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>perhaps it would
be better if the programmers just paid a little more attention with the
first tool (the externalizer)?
Just by looking at the pattern of the
keys in the properties files, I "think" many programmers do not
use the "Externalize Strings" function in JDT. Like you said,
if all programmers used the "Externalize Strings" function in
JDT, and paid a little more attention, we will not have the problem :-)
.

I do not have any specific examples
at the moment, but I remember seeing values of "true", "false",
"if", "else", "V1.0", etc in properties files,
where programmers are using the properties files as .ini files or constants
in programs for initializations or comparisons. They compare to see if
the key values is "true" (of course, they may have logics to
uppercase or lowercase the value before compare) and perform their logics.
Or, they save some keywords or software version numbers into the properties
files (some countries translated the "V" for version in their
language). If any of those key values are translated, the program logics
may not work.

The ideal solution in these cases is
to open a bug, and ask the programmer to change code, and only externalize
translatable strings into the properties files. However, a lot of programmers
may say the code works in English. It's not a high priory to change. An
easier solution is to add a tag to tell the translators not to translate
the key.

Kit Lo
IBM Eclipse SDK Globalization Technical Lead

Bjorn Freeman-Benson <bjorn.freeman-benson@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: babel-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx

11/28/2007 06:55 PM

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Subject	Re: [babel-dev] DO NOT TRANSLATE properties files and quote handling

So you're saying we need an extra feature to handle the
case where developers make a mistake with some other tool? Perhaps it would
be better, instead of adding more features/code (more code = more bugs
and more maintenance) here, perhaps it would be better if the programmers
just paid a little more attention with the first tool (the externalizer)?

Or maybe I'm missing something? I admit that you are more of an expert
than I am on this topic.

Kit Lo wrote: 
I've seen programmers blindly externalize all strings
to properties files. We need special comments in properties files to exclude
files or strings.
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