Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

foreign language support

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #16
    Re: foreign language support

    I think it is possible to design an application so that the user will never see an internal Alpha message but rather see only developer mesages. So language support is not an Alpha issue but rather is a developer issue.
    For example, putting all labels, warnings, etc. into a text file that is read on application startup will enable all objects on forms and reports to be displayed in the language of choice.
    Adding a new language is then a matter of adding the translated word or phrase on every line.
    Or am I missing something?
    Garry

    Comment


      #17
      Re: foreign language support

      Originally posted by Garry Flanigan View Post
      I think it is possible to design an application so that the user will never see an internal Alpha message but rather see only developer messages. So language support is not an Alpha issue but rather is a developer issue.
      For example, putting all labels, warnings, etc. into a text file that is read on application startup will enable all objects on forms and reports to be displayed in the language of choice.
      Adding a new language is then a matter of adding the translated word or phrase on every line.
      Or am I missing something?
      Garry
      Garry,

      It's all about 'capturing' messages generated by A5 and translating them into proper German or some other language.

      IMHO it would be more than enough, when the developer could kinda 'deflect' A5's own messages and offer her/his users the equivalent text in the language of choice instead of English. The translating of stuff would then be done by the developer, which is all fine by me ;).

      I haven't seen a mechanism in A5 allowing me to do just that in an efficient manner. If there is one already in place, then puhhleeaasee show me :o .
      SwissCharles
      Between the Alps and a comfy place

      Comment


        #18
        Re: foreign language support

        Code:
        It's all about 'capturing' messages generated by A5 and translating them into proper German or some other language.
        Unless I am mistaken, there is no reason to ever see an Alpha Five message.
        For example, if you use field rules to determine uniqueness then Alpha will popup a message when you violate the rule, but if you check for uniqueness at the form level and do not use filed rules then you can display custom messages in any language you choose. All validation can be done by the developer. Sure it is more work but if you are making an application for many users it is worth it. The Alpha messages are often not particularly helpful to a novice user anyway, because the underlying field names are often truncated.
        What Alpha messages do you see that you cannot see a way to intercept?
        Garry

        Comment


          #19
          Re: foreign language support

          ...language support is not an Alpha issue...
          You're right, Alpha doesn't have to do anything but if making an application becomes too time consuming and difficult then an international developer will look for another tool.
          Non-programmers are going to have a hard time. They won't be able to get A5 into a company where the end-users don't speak English.

          It's in Alpha's interest to make international development easy.

          What Alpha messages do you see that you cannot see a way to intercept?
          I saw a V10 demo video showing multi-user grid inputs where a message popped up when two people changed the same record. Is that message easy to translate?

          Comment


            #20
            Re: foreign language support

            Originally posted by Garry Flanigan View Post
            Code:
            It's all about 'capturing' messages generated by A5 and translating them into proper German or some other language.
            Unless I am mistaken, there is no reason to ever see an Alpha Five message.
            For example, if you use field rules to determine uniqueness then Alpha will popup a message when you violate the rule, but if you check for uniqueness at the form level and do not use filed rules then you can display custom messages in any language you choose. All validation can be done by the developer. Sure it is more work but if you are making an application for many users it is worth it. The Alpha messages are often not particularly helpful to a novice user anyway, because the underlying field names are often truncated.
            What Alpha messages do you see that you cannot see a way to intercept?
            Garry
            Cancelling a grid edit triggers a popup that you cannot work around and that popup is in plain english for example. If Alpha wants to attract intl developers serving non english speaking customers then they will need to offer translation for these kind of messages. I think it would be a rather limited effort for Alpha to realize this. The benefit however to Alpha would be enormous; they could easily double their sales and get more noticed then is already the case.
            Frank

            Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

            Comment


              #21
              Re: foreign language support

              As the main language of my users is Dutch. A support for foreign language would be just the thing. It could be a database you could edit or text based.

              After reading this thread I looked for other ways to have the standard text changed from English to Dutch. I found a Visual Resource Editor and downloaded the trail version at www.restuner.com. Now the door was open to change a lot of things, even Alpha Five's startup splash screen and all available text within the recourses.

              Question is, would Alpha allow us to edit these resources.

              My 2 cents,
              Jacques
              Last edited by Jacques; 10-02-2009, 02:08 PM.

              Comment


                #22
                Re: foreign language support

                Originally posted by Jacques View Post
                As the main language of my users is Dutch. A support for foreign language would be just the thing. It could be a database you could edit or text based.

                After reading this thread I looked for other ways to have the standard text changed from English to Dutch. I found a Visual Resource Editor and downloaded the trail version at www.restuner.com. Now the door was open to change a lot of things, even Alpha Five's startup splash screen and all available text within the recourses.

                Question is, would Alpha allow us to edit these resources.

                My 2 cents,
                Jacques
                I guess you'd need to all the work over & over every time Alpha releases another (minor) version. Also how about strings that get longer or shorter because of the translation ?

                Ik zou liever een echte oplossing hebben :-)
                Frank

                Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: foreign language support

                  Youre right about having to do the job over again with every new release. That's why I hope that Alpha will replace the hardcoded text with variables. maybe a .dbf file?

                  Jacques

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: foreign language support

                    As this thread is in the Desktop area, my comments relate to Desktop.
                    Some others have made comments that relate to the Application Server and I agree that these are issues that require changes by Alpha as they cannot be fixed by application developers.
                    Garry

                    Comment


                      #25
                      Re: foreign language support

                      I have a function for use in Alpha 5 Desktop applications (or a web application that uses code that has strings) that allows easy use of strings from multiple languages within Alpha 5 code (actually, anywhere you can reference an XBasic Pointer with a property value, which can be pretty much anywhere).

                      If there is enough interest in this, I can make this into a product. If this is something you are interested in purchasing, let me know, and I'll consider productizing it.

                      Also, if you have any features you'd like to see in this product, email (See signature at bottom) or PM me, and I'll make sure I try to place them in.

                      Basic Description
                      It normally uses the locale ID of windows as the main reference to the language, but can also find the closest similar language. The current language can be changed at any time during operation.

                      E.g. "Spanish" includes about 20 locale ID variations within windows, some of them are
                      Spanish (Traditional Sort)
                      Spanish (Mexican)
                      Spanish (Modern Sort)
                      Spanish (Argentina)
                      If you didn't care which version you wanted and specified the language "Spanish" instead of the locale ID, it would find the closest match, if it existed.

                      Anytime strings are not specified, it falls back to the original default values. A user can also add his own set of strings when his language is not specified, without having any impact on the code.

                      The only real requirements to using this function for managing strings by someone programming is that all strings that you want to internationalize need to be referenced via a pointer property, e.g.
                      dim ptr as p
                      dim ptr.string1="Title of UI_msg_box"
                      dim ptr.string2="Text of UI_msg_box"

                      ui_msg_box(ptr.string1, ptr.string2)
                      For other uses in areas that don't have code (e.g. field rules strings), a global pointer (Only 1 please! See my tips here) can be initialized in the Autoexec script

                      In most cases, strings are grouped together by a groupname, typically the name of the script or function, but can be any groupname.
                      Regards,

                      Ira J. Perlow
                      Computer Systems Design


                      CSDA A5 Products
                      New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
                      CSDA Barcode Functions

                      CSDA Code Utility
                      CSDA Screen Capture


                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: foreign language support

                        Originally posted by csda1 View Post
                        I have a function for use in Alpha 5 Desktop applications (or a web application that uses code that has strings) that allows easy use of strings from multiple languages within Alpha 5 code (actually, anywhere you can reference an XBasic Pointer with a property value, which can be pretty much anywhere).

                        If there is enough interest in this, I can make this into a product. If this is something you are interested in purchasing, let me know, and I'll consider productizing it.

                        Also, if you have any features you'd like to see in this product, email (See signature at bottom) or PM me, and I'll make sure I try to place them in.

                        Basic Description
                        It normally uses the locale ID of windows as the main reference to the language, but can also find the closest similar language. The current language can be changed at any time during operation.

                        E.g. "Spanish" includes about 20 locale ID variations within windows, some of them are
                        Spanish (Traditional Sort)
                        Spanish (Mexican)
                        Spanish (Modern Sort)
                        Spanish (Argentina)
                        If you didn't care which version you wanted and specified the language "Spanish" instead of the locale ID, it would find the closest match, if it existed.

                        Anytime strings are not specified, it falls back to the original default values. A user can also add his own set of strings when his language is not specified, without having any impact on the code.

                        The only real requirements to using this function for managing strings by someone programming is that all strings that you want to internationalize need to be referenced via a pointer property, e.g.
                        dim ptr as p
                        dim ptr.string1="Title of UI_msg_box"
                        dim ptr.string2="Text of UI_msg_box"

                        ui_msg_box(ptr.string1, ptr.string2)
                        For other uses in areas that don't have code (e.g. field rules strings), a global pointer (Only 1 please! See my tips here) can be initialized in the Autoexec script

                        In most cases, strings are grouped together by a groupname, typically the name of the script or function, but can be any groupname.
                        I'm afraid that still would not solve the issue with the hardcoded strings in A5. I'm not sure what would be the difference between your code & the solution Alpha has built in in V10 which is terrific I think, it's just the hardcoded stuff (and in my case just for webapps)
                        Frank

                        Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Re: foreign language support

                          Hi Frank,

                          Originally posted by Clipper87 View Post
                          I'm afraid that still would not solve the issue with the hardcoded strings in A5.
                          That's true, but the question is how many hard coded strings do you explicitly or implicitly use from Alpha Five?

                          I use a ton (Kiloton for you guys :) ) of their functions, but the messages and dialogs are all my own. A generic error handler allows trapping of errors in most cases, and eliminates most of the hardcoded strings. Many of the dialogs can be replaced with your own custom dialogs. But I understand the difficult of replacing dialogs that Alpha has supplied and many non-programmers depend upon.

                          Originally posted by Clipper87 View Post
                          I'm not sure what would be the difference between your code & the solution Alpha has built in in V10 which is terrific I think, it's just the hardcoded stuff (and in my case just for webapps
                          Alpha's Web solution is only good for grid components, not XBasic code or desktop usage. My solution is good for desktop, and can be referenced in grid expressions.
                          Regards,

                          Ira J. Perlow
                          Computer Systems Design


                          CSDA A5 Products
                          New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
                          CSDA Barcode Functions

                          CSDA Code Utility
                          CSDA Screen Capture


                          Comment


                            #28
                            Re: foreign language support

                            I too support the demand for better international support.

                            In my mother language, Greek, I can't even enter the field descriptions, as you can see at the images in:
                            http://msgboard.alphasoftware.com/al...ad.php?t=81826
                            "Give every man more in use value
                            than you take from him in cash value;
                            then you are adding to the life of the
                            world
                            by every business transaction"
                            Wallace D. Wattles

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Re: foreign language support

                              Hi,


                              Just to keep this alive.

                              Really looking forward to hear Alpha Software point of view and see if I choose other development product or can wait till Alpha Five allow us to enjoy A5 futures in other languajes that english.

                              Regards,

                              Rod

                              Comment


                                #30
                                Re: foreign language support

                                Originally posted by RodMG View Post
                                Hi,


                                Just to keep this alive.

                                Really looking forward to hear Alpha Software point of view and see if I choose other development product or can wait till Alpha Five allow us to enjoy A5 futures in other languajes that english.

                                Regards,

                                Rod
                                Rod,

                                I have mailed both Richard & Selwyn but unfortunately I did not get an answer.

                                Frank
                                Frank

                                Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X