GnuGetText tools for Delphi

Basic functions

The program ggdxgettext.exe scans the source texts (dpr, dfm and pas files) of a Delphi project for strings to be translated and creates a po template from them.

Settings

After starting the program, the window shown on the right opens, in which at the uppermost place the project directory (base directory) is to be named. It can either be specified in the command line when the program is called (see below) or selected in a dialog by clicking on the icon on the right. Further options:

• Also search subdirectories: The files of all subdirectories that are not specified as to be excluded are scanned.
• File masks: Depending on the programming language used, a list with the masks of the source files (e.g. *.pas *.dfm *.inc *.dpr) to be scanned is specified here.
• Text domain: GnuGetText for Delphi offers the possibility to separate translations into different text domains. This makes it possible to translate groups of program components (e.g. units and dialogs used in different applications) separately. The default domain for an application is always called default. The names of other domains are freely selectable (e.g. units), but must be specified in the source texts in the same way (e.g. dxgettext('units','Hello'); or TranslateComponent(self,'units');).
• Encoding of source files: This setting should normally be be left at the default US-ASCII. If the source texts contain characters from other character sets, e.g. if German was used as the source language, the encoding selection must be changed accordingly.
• Add likely ignores to ignore.po file: After scanning the source texts, the list of strings is checked for expressions that are obviously not user-specified text, e.g. a font name or a number string. These are then moved to the ignore.po file. The user can also manually add further entries to this text file.
  In addition, the user can provide his own list, which specifies certain patterns used for naming the components. Matching entries are then automatically moved to ignore.po. This list has the name IgnoreObjects.txt and is located in the base directory of the project (see above). If desired, it can be customized by the user.
  Example: bb_=bit button detects all entries (msgid) starting with bb_. They are marked by the comment # Seems like unrenamed bit button.
• Remove items from template present in ignore.po file: All entries found in the ignore.po file are removed from the template and are thus no longer part of the translation.
• Sort entries by original strings (msgid): The generated po file can be saved either in the order of the template or sorted alphabetically by the original strings (msgid).
• Always overwrite template file: An older template is overwritten during the update without prompting.
• Remember settings: All settings are stored in an ini file (dxgettext.ini). This is located in the respective base directory

Clicking the OK button will start the scanning of the selected source files.

Processing

In the dialog window (see fig. at right) the progress of the scanning for strings to be translated is displayed. Special attention should be paid to whether errors are displayed, e.g. if non-ASCII encodable characters are used in the source texts. In this case you must either change these characters or select another text encoding (see above).
The output of the template is always in UTF-8 format.

Command line

Example:
  ggdxgettext.exe "E:\Projects\Translate\sample\" /dom:sample.

Using the program ggmerge.exe will insert all new and changed strings in an updated template into the po file with the translation. This should then further be edited with an editor (e.g. PoEdit).

Settings

After starting the program, the window shown on the right opens, in which the po file to be updated must be specified in the uppermost position. It can either be specified in the command line when the program is started (see below) or selected in a dialog by clicking on the icon on the right. After that, select the po template to be used for the adjustment. Further options:

• Encoding of template: In case the template was not created in UTF-8 format (default, see above), the used encoding must be selected here.
• Ignore upper/lower case for MsgIds: When merging, an exact match of the original texts (msgid) is normally checked. If this option is activated, the system also checks whether the original texts match if they are not case-sensitive. The translation is then accepted but marked for further editing (Fuzzy).
• Retain automatic comments: When creating the template with ggdxgettext, automatic comments are inserted that make it easier for the program developer to find the position of the respective string in the source code. If this option is selected, these are transferred to the translation file.
• Retain obsolete translations: Translated strings that are no longer used in the current template can optionally be added as comments with the #~ marker.
• Create backup file of old translation (recommended): A previous version of the translated po file is always retained (e.g. default.~po).
• Remember settings: All settings are saved in an ini file. This is located in the directory of the selected po file. Its name is derived from the po name (here e.g. default.ini).

Command line

Example:
  ggmerge.exe "E:\Projects\Translate\sample\languages\de\default.po".

ggfmt.exe is a console program that can convert po files (text) to binary mo files and reverse.

The program ggassemble.exe will allow you to embed one or also several translations into an Exe file. Thus it is no longer necessary for the distribution of the Delphi program to attach the subdirectories locale\<Lang-Id>\LC_MESSAGES\, since the translations are integrated into the Exe file.

The program requires the specification of the exe file to be processed. This is normally specified in the command line (see below). If this specification is missing, the user is prompted to select the desired exe file. After starting, the program searches for mo files in the subdirectories of the type mentioned above in the directory of the exe file and displays them in a list. The user selects the languages and text domains to be embedded and clicks Start. Prerequisite for this function to work is that the GnuGetText.pas unit is included in the source code of the program and the exe file is freshly compiled, i.e. no translations have been embedded yet. A successful action is indicated by a corresponding message (see figure below right).

Command line

When installing the program package, the necessary registry entries are automatically made to adjust the Windows context menus:

1. Right-click on a directory, e.g. sample		2. Right-click on a source file, e.g. GgtUtils.pas
scans all program sources in the selected directory to create the translation template (po file).		scans the selected source file to create the translation template (po file).
3. Right-click on a po file, e.g. default.po		4. Right-click on an exe file, e.g. GgtTranslate.exe
merges the translation with the updated template and starts an editor (e.g. PoEdit) for post-processing.		embeds the translations into the selected exe file.