Hello!

Here're the instructions for the translation. If you are already familiar with
Resource Files or IPF Files, you will know most of what's said here. Please
read this file anyway.


Files in the archive:
=====================

*.IPS:  Sources for the online help
*.IPF:  Sources for the User's Guide
*.DLG:  Dialogs
*.RC:   Other language resources

These are pure ASCII files. You can use any text editor. Please don't use
an editor that places control characters in the text!


IPS/IPF files:
==============

IPS/IPF files are translated by the help compiler. They contain

   - the help texts
   - formatting information for marking chapters, hyperlinks etc.

The most important aspect is that you _only_ change the help texts and leave
control information unchanged (otherwise the compiler will stumble over it).
So you need to know to tell control information from help text

Cutout:

============================================================================
.****************************************************************
.* Hilfe fuer Tasten
.****************************************************************

:h1 res=&PANEL_KEYS..Help for keys
:p.You can use different key combinations depending on if you're reading
or editing messages.
:ul.
:li.:link reftype=hd refid=genkeys.Keys generally available:elink.
:li.:link reftype=hd refid=readkeys.Keys only available when reading messages:elink.
:li.:link reftype=hd refid=editkeys.Keys only available when editing messages:elink.
:eul.
============================================================================

 - All lines starting with ".*" are comments. Please leave them that way so that
   even I can navigate through the translated files.
 - Special characters somtimes appear as "&name.", e.g. "&sqbul.". In general,
   all words starting with "&" and ending with "." are special characters.
   Please don't translate them.
 - If you need to use a colon (":"), write it as "&colon.". If you need to
   use "&", write it as "&amp.".
 - Control information starts with ":" and ends with ".", e.g.
   ":li." in the example. Sometimes the instructions have parameters, making
   them longer, e.g. ":link reftype=hd refid=genkeys.". In this case, the word
   "genkeys" is part of the control information and must not be translated.
 - There are no nested instructions, so it won't get more complicated than
   the examples above :-)

Complete example:

:li.&sqbul. :link reftype=hd refid=editkeys.Tastenkombinationen beim Schreiben:elink.
++++******* ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++##################################+++++++

+ control information
* special characters
# help text

OK?


DLG file:
=========

The DLG file containes the dialog templates. Again, you must separate text from
instructions.

Cutout:

============================================================================
DLGTEMPLATE IDD_DOMAINS LOADONCALL MOVEABLE DISCARDABLE
BEGIN
    DIALOG  "Dialog Title", IDD_DOMAINS, 12, 6, 224, 130, NOT FS_DLGBORDER
            PRESPARAMS PP_FONTNAMESIZE, "10.Helv"
    BEGIN
        GROUPBOX        "Domains", 6941, 5, 24, 210, 102, NOT WS_GROUP
        LISTBOX         6943, 11, 29, 106, 86, LS_NOADJUSTPOS | WS_GROUP
        PUSHBUTTON      "~Hinzufgen", 6944, 134, 85, 60, 14, WS_GROUP
        PUSHBUTTON      "~ndern", 6945, 134, 64, 60, 14, NOT WS_TABSTOP
        PUSHBUTTON      "~Lschen", 6946, 134, 44, 60, 14, NOT WS_TABSTOP
        PUSHBUTTON      "Hilfe", 6942, 5, 5, 210, 14, BS_HELP |
                        BS_NOPOINTERFOCUS | WS_GROUP
    END
END
============================================================================

In general, text is bracketed by ("). The only exception is

    DIALOG  "Dialog Title", IDD_DOMAINS, 12, 6, 224, 130, NOT FS_DLGBORDER
            PRESPARAMS PP_FONTNAMESIZE, "10.Helv"

In this example, "Dialog Title" is text that appears in the dialog, but
"10.Helv" is just a font name and must not be translated.

The tilde (~) has a special meaning:

   a) the letter following the tilde is underlined
   b) the user can select the dialog element by pressing this key

The underlined letters in each dialog must be unique so that b) actually
works. So whenever a tilde appears in the text, please do add a tilde somewhere
in the translation.

The translated text shouldn't be much longer than the original text. However,
I will adjust the dialogs again, so minor deviations aren't a problem.


RC file:
========

The RC file contains all other language dependend resources, i.e. menus,
other text strings etc.

For example, a menu looks like this:


============================================================================
  SUBMENU "~Setup", IDM_OPTIONS
  BEGIN
    MENUITEM "~Optionen...", IDM_OPCONFIG
    MENUITEM "Message-Sch~ablonen...", IDM_OPTEMPLATE
    MENUITEM "~Verteilerlisten...", IDM_OPCCLISTS
    MENUITEM SEPARATOR
    MENUITEM "Aktueller ~Name/Adresse...\tStrg-D", IDM_OPNAMEADDR
    MENUITEM SEPARATOR
    MENUITEM "Optionen ~speichern", IDM_OPSAVE
  END
============================================================================

The tilde symbol appears again. This time it must be unique per menu or per
sub-menu. Text is bracketed with (") again.

A "\t" separates menu text from keyboard accelerator.

When a "..." is in the text, please also add a "..." in your translation.

Please try to keep the translation somewhat uniform, i.e. always use the same
translation for an english word, e.g. "Settings".

String resources are

============================================================================
IDST_MSG_WORKERROR     "Fehler beim Bearbeiten der ausgewhlten Messages"
IDST_MSG_LOCKERROR     "Diese Aktion kann nicht ausgefhrt werden, da die Area "
                       "momentan in Verwendung ist."
IDST_TPL_HEADER        "Hallo %Z!\x0d\x0a"
============================================================================

Long text can be written as several lines. Just end the first line with (") and
start the next line with (").

for example

   "long "
   "text"

is equivalent to

   "long text"

Please note the space character at the end of the first part!

"\x0d" or "\x0a" are special characters, please leave them that way.



That was the technical part. Now for the coordination:

When I write new texts etc., I do it in the german and english version. I then
copy the english version to the other languages, marking the new parts with
"@@". I then send you the _complete_ language files. That means for you:


 - after sending a translation to me, please don't modify your files, because
   your changes will be overwritten when I send back files with new text.
   Only if we avoid to apply changes in parallel, we can eliminate that
   danger.
 - You can of course send half-complete versions, but please say that they
   aren't complete yet. I then won't do any changes on the files.


Well, I think the whole procedure is clear now.


I wish you a successful translation!

Bye, Michael.

