Problem with i18n("")

[Ansley, Michael]

Thanks.  I should actually have realised that.  It's basically the same as
the translation software we use on Win32.

MikeA

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jacek Wojdel [mailto:wojdel at kbs.twi.tudelft.nl]
>> Sent: Friday, October 08, 1999 12:48 PM
>> To: kdevelop at barney.cs.uni-potsdam.de
>> Subject: RE: Problem with i18n("")
>> 
>> 
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> 
>> On Fri, 08 Oct 1999, you wrote:
>> > That's fine, but what if I do i18n(text_var); and text_var 
>> evaluates to ""?
>> > Writing a check to see if text_var is empty would seem a little
>> > counter-intuitive, as well as unnecessary, if i18n() gave 
>> the correct
>> > output.
>> 
>> IMHO, you shouldn't ever use i18n(text_var). The point is 
>> that the argument of
>> i18n call should be a constant string that can be evaluated 
>> at compile time,
>> and it should be present right in the point where i18n is 
>> called. So assume you
>> want to internationalise the following code:
>> 
>> if (comning)
>>   strcpy(text_var, "Hello !");
>> if (going)
>>   strcpy(text_var, "Bye !");
>> printf(text_var);
>> 
>> You should do it as follows:
>> 
>> if (comning)
>>   strcpy(text_var, i18n("Hello !") );
>> if (going)
>>   strcpy(text_var, i18n("Bye !") );
>> printf(text_var);
>> 
>> However if you're tempted to do something like this:
>> 
>> strcpy( text_var, "Hello ");
>> if (global)
>>   strcat( text_var, "world.");
>> else
>>   strcat( text_var, "user.");
>> printf( text_var );
>> 
>> The only proper way to do it is:
>> 
>> if (global)
>>   strcpy( text_var, i18n("world.") );
>> else
>>   strcpy( text_var, i18n("user.") );
>> printf( i18n("Hello %s"), text_var );
>> 
>> And as a final note, from the translator's perspective it 
>> could be the best if
>> you could avoid using any runtime-generated text in 
>> communication with user, so
>> always instead of concatenating "File", filename, "couldn't 
>> be open" use
>> sprintf with i18n("File %s couldn't be open").
>> 	Jacek
>> 
>> --
>> +-------------------------------------+
>> |from: J.C.Wojdel                     |
>> |      J.C.Wojdel at cs.tudelft.nl       |
>> +-------------------------------------+
>> 
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