[babel-dev] add a new project and handle its property files

[Denis Roy <denis.roy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Matthias,

Sorry for the delay in responding to this.

1) How can I add another RCP-project to a local Babel installation? I
just got a local Babel LAMP installation working and found the
map_files.php to be responsible for handling projects. The point is
that this site only lists projects that are already included in the
database. I'm missing something like an add button to insert my own
project as well. Sure, I could access the db directly but I'm quite
sure this isn't an appropriate way. Additionally, the db and its
tables isn't documented so far (at least I didn't find anything yet)
so it's a kind of try 'n error to insert something into here without
knowing what's actually required / forbidden ...

Since Babel itself is for the purpose of translating  Eclipse.org projects, we import our project structure from another  data source.  Please feel free to open an enhancement request with Babel for the "Add a Project" function and attach some code to make this happen.  Although we likely won't use it for babel.eclipse.org, I'm sure others could find it useful.

2) After adding a new project the local installation needs to get the
property files, which contain the English strings to be translated.
There are two major ways to import them either by sending a mail with
all properties attached (in a certain dir structure) to be inserted
manually (haven't found any how to's for that, too) or to specify map
files that point to a repository. The second approach seems to be the
one to chose.

At Eclipse we populate the English strings only by processing the map files (which downloads the files from CVS or SVN).  We can import large translation batches by accepting a ZIP file of translated properties files that follow a specific convention.  That process is documented here:

http://wiki.eclipse.org/Babel_/_Large_Contribution_Import_Process

However, letting babel pull information out of a remote
repository is one thing. Uploading data via API is another. Does such
an API exist were I could push the property files myself? This way
seems a bit more resource saving to me.

It's on our roadmap to develop an API which could be used for this, and many other things (like a rich translation editor); however, insufficient resources have stalled this effort.

3) The runtime translation editor is a piece of software that really
earns my respect. Not just because of its techniques (though they look
interesting) but because of its concept. Translating an application
_inside_ the application itself is just a wonderful idea. So can you
make any statements about how this plugin integrates with the Babel
server so far (esp. uploading)?

I'm not sure if anyone has answered this yet, but we don't currently have any mechanism on the server to read Babel translations, or to allow uploading translations.  The server web API would be the first place to start -- please see this bug for more info: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=223036

4) Babel starts in a staging mode. Where can I configure Babel to be
in mode x, y?

I believe you need to define an add-on in the add-ons directory.  There is little (or no) documentation on this, but I think it's just a matter of copying a directory and editing a couple of source files.  If you go through the process, could you write up some short documentation so that we can add (or you can go ahead and add it) it to the Dev process?  http://wiki.eclipse.org/Babel_/_Server_Tool_Development_Process

5) Probably obsolete: Where can I configuring Babel to provide whether
an update site or a zip (or both)?

You mean, an update site for translated plugins?  Could this help answer those questions?

http://wiki.eclipse.org/Babel_/_Building_and_Releasing_Language_Packs


If you have other questions, please feel free to post them.  I'll try to answer more quickly next time.

Denis

--
Denis Roy