INFORMATION FOR TRANSLATERS



Preface
-------

There are five basic points on style suggested in the 
CatComp documentation:

  1.List all names in capital letters. This will make it clear they are
    constants as this is the convention used in all Amiga include files.

  2.Prefix each name with the string MSG_. This will make it clear to the
    programmer that a given constant is in fact a string ID value.

  3.Append the string _GAD to strings that are used for gadget labels.

  4.Append the string _MENU to strings that are used for menu titles. For
    example, MSG_EDIT_MENU.

  5.Expand the path leading to a menu item when specifying strings that are
    used for menu items. For example, for the Cut item in the Edit menu
    would be written as MSG_EDIT_CUT.

I will NOT regard these rules (except the second) as they are limiting the
use of a string and one has to use more texts than actually needed. I admit
that for a consequent use of menu & gadget shortcuts the above mentioned
rules are absolutely necessary. But I will use only a few shortcuts for
some standard gadgets/menus, and these will be especially labelled.

For my purpose, I have categorized strings in the following six categories:


Text Categories
---------------

(1) _C_ommands	: Verbs or texts describing an action to be done
(2) _N_ames	: Pronouns or texts describing an object
(3) _Q_estions	: Questions
(4) _E_Errors	: Texts that describe why an error has occured
(5) _A_djectives: Adjectives or texts that describe something
(6) _T_exts	: Texts that can`t be categorized into (1)-(5)


The first character of the name of each category - seperated from the other 
text by underlines (_) - will appear in each string id, indicating the
string`s category. For example, `MSG_N_Title` is the id for a string of
the category _N_ames.


Shortcuts
---------

To indicate menu or gadget shortcuts, there are two further strings that may
be appended to a string id; they are

(i)	"_GSCX": `gadget shortcut number X` and
(ii)	"_MSCX": `menu shortcut number X`.

If one of these strings is appended to a string id, it means firstly that
you are allowed to define a shortcut for this string and secondly, that you
MUST NOT use the same shortcut for two or more strings of the same shortcut
number.

Examples:

MSG_C_OK_GSC0           MSG_C_OK_GSC0		MSG_C_OK_GSC0		
_OK			_OK			_OK			
MSG_C_Edit_GSC0		MSG_C_Edit_GSC0		MSG_C_Edit_GSC0		
_Edit			_Edit			_Edit			
MSG_C_Cancel_GSC0	MSG_C_Cancel_GSC0	MSG_C_Cancel_GSC1
_Cancel			Canc_el			Canc_el		

correct shortcuts	incorrect shortcuts,	correct shortcuts
			`E` used twice in GSC0

Altogether, this leads to the


EBNF of a string id
-------------------

StringID	= "MSG_" Category "_" Text [Appendix]
Category	= "C"|"N"|"Q"|"E"|"A"|"T"
Text		= {"a"|"A"|...|"z"|"Z"}
Appendix	= "_GSC"Number | "_MSC"Number
Number		= {"0"|...|"9"}


Category guidelines
-------------------

(1) Command	: Begin the text with a big character, end it without a
		  punctuation mark. E.g. "Edit" or "Copy title"
(2) Name	: Begin the text with a big character, end it without a
		  punctuation mark. E.g. "Title" or "Spool information"
(3) Question	: Begin the text with a big character, end it with a
		  question mark. E.g. "Delete changed project?"
(4) Error	: Begin the text with a big character, end it with an
		  exclamation mark. E.g. "Length is too big!"
(5) Adjective	: Begin the text with a small character, end it without a
		  punctuation mark. E.g. "small" or "verbose"
(6) Text	: Choose a text you think fulfils its purpose best. 


CT-Head
-------

 Starting translation, a head will be given (in your VideoMaxe.ct file)
that looks as follows:

## version $VER: VideoMaxe.catalog <major_version>.<minor_version> (<date>)
## language <the_language_you_think_to_conquer>
## codeset 0

LEAVE ALL VALUES AS THEY ARE, except:

<minor_version>: A two-digits-number that you can use freely to label your
                 different versions.
<date>: Any date string that should include the date of your <minor_version>.

You may certainly add any other texts you think are suitable in comment lines
(lines starting with a semikolon).


Updating
--------

 An VideoMaxe.ct file has to be updated if the VideoMaxe.cd file changes. 
For minor changes, I will try to do the updating myself, otherwise I will
give you an updated version of your CT-File (if interested, see Rexx script
`UpdateCT` how this is done), and you have to fill in the new/missing
strings.


Very near to the end of this text
---------------------------------

That`s it for now. Note that up to VideoMaxe.cd version 01.00 no shortcuts are
employed.

If you really want to do a translation, contact me first to make sure
there is no translation for that language yet. See my address(es) in
the documents.


The end of this text
--------------------

At this point, this text unfortunately ends.

StS, 5 Apr 1993