This article describes how you can translate Kalkules into your native language.
The good thing about translating Kalkules is that you do not have to know anything about programming. All you have to know is how to edit a text file.
Each translation is represented as a single text file located in the language folder. This text file contains all the translated texts.
The language folder is located in your Kalkules folder (where you have installed or copied Kalkules). The general path is:
{Kalkules folder}/lang
For instance: If you have installed Kalkules in C:\Program Files\Kalkules (which is the default installation option), your language folder path is:
C:\Program Files\Kalkules\lang
Probably the best way to create a new translation is to take an existing translation file, and change the translated texts. For instance, lets say you want to create a German translation using the existing English translation. You can do that by following these steps:
english.txt
deutsch.txt
(the file name can be random, but it should represent the language of the translation)
Open deutsch.txt
in a text editor (such as NotePad, PSPad or NotePad ++). Now you should see something like this:
[Info] FileVersion=0.2.0 FileDate=2011-10-03 Program=Kalkules 1.6 - 1.8 LanguageName=English LanguageIsoCode=en Encoding=CP1250 [Author] name=Jardo [email protected] url=http://www.kalkules.com/ [Addresses] ManualFile=manual\en\manual.html ConstantFile=const\const-en.dat LibraryPath=lib\en UnitFile=units\en\units.xml DocumentationPage=http://wiki.kalkules.com/ DownloadPage=http://www.kalkules.com/index.php?page=download HomePage=http://www.kalkules.com/ [Common] Calculate=Calculate Close=Close InputError=Input error IncorrectValue=Value entered incorrectly. CalculationError=An error occurred during the calculation. Ok=Ok Apply=Apply Cancel=Cancel SelectAll=Select all Cut=Cut Copy=Copy ...
Notice that the file is divided in several sections. Each section starts with its name surrounded by brackets ( [Info], [Author], [Addresses], …), and contains pairs of keys and values separated by =. The general pattern is:
[Section 1] key1=value1 key2=value2 [Section 2] key1=value1 key2=value2
When translating, you only need to change the values. Remember that if you change a name of some section or a key, the translation file will not work properly.
Start translating the texts. This is done by editing the values in all sections:
This section contains general information about the translation:
After editing, your Info section could look like this:
[Info] FileVersion=0.2.0 FileDate=2012-06-27 Program=Kalkules 1.6 - 1.8 LanguageName=Deutsch LanguageIsoCode=de Encoding=CP1250
Information about the author of the translation:
This sections contains information about various file paths and web addresses. This information should be changed in case you translate the program manual, constant file, library files, etc. The default values point to the English versions of the files. For now you can leave them unchanged.
Now we can finally start to translate the texts. The Common section contains texts, which are common for several Kalkules forms or tools. All we have to do now, is change the text values to German. Remember to only change the texts on the ride side of the = sign. In our example, the Common section could look like this:
[Common] Calculate=Berechne Close=Schließe InputError=Eingabefehler IncorrectValue=Eingegebener Wert ist nicht korrekt CalculationError=Während der Berechnung ist ein Fehler aufgetreten Ok=Ok Apply=Anwenden Cancel=Abbrechen ...
If you do not know how to translate some texts, leave them untranslated. Never leave any text values blank. Doing so would only make the program features imposible to use.
The other sections in the translation file contain all the programs texts divided into parts by their usage. You can translate them the same way as the Common section.
Test your translation. Start (or restart) Kalkules and select Preferences/Language… from the main menu. In the language list on the diplayed window, you should be able to see your new language (the name you entered as languageName in the Info section). Select your new language and press Ok. Now you should look through all the program windows and check if all the texts are translated correctly. While on it, you should also chcek the texts for misspellings and grammar errors.
If you experience any trouble with the translated texts, see the troubleshooting page.