How to ? Translate MODx Revolution

Just installed MODx revolution beta (went like a breeze  ) and now I’d like to get a french translation out very fast of course... Let me tell you even as someone who tested the alpha early on, I am totally in awe by the work Jason, Shaun and the team has done for the beta !

Back on translating, I am not sure how to go about this. I checked out System > Lexicon Management but I am still unsure about the way to proceed here (if translators who have done this can help me here). I have read http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/revolution/Lexicons and related pages but this doesn’t tell me how to actually build a translation.

When I am on the english page, I select with dropdown "fr" :



Then I am a bit puzzled, I don’t "see" any strings :



So I look and see the create dropdown menu :



If I understand correctly, I have to create a topic (quote the doc "A Lexicon Topic is a collection of Lexicon Entrie") and I guess namespaces remain unchanged for alternate languages (I mean if I translate "core" I still keep the namespace "core" ?).

What I fail to see is how I match the translation terms to the the terms being translated. In terms of UI, I’d have expected to see original strings in a column, and the empty french strings in an adjacent column.

My question is, how do I proceed ?
Do I export the english language, translate the file and then import ?

Thanks !

Same question from Norway and the norwegian translation. 


("And just like that there was MODx Revolution Beta..") 

Davidm,

I’ve thought quite a bit about the translation process, and we’ve got a ton of different ways we could do this. First off, let me explain the relationships:

A ’namespace’ is just an organizing entity for Lexicon strings / Settings / Packages / etc. It allows you to separate them into more manageable subgroups. The ’core’ namespace is the default MODx manager namespace. If you’re wanting to translate the default install, you’d translate that namespace.

A Lexicon Entry represents a single string. A Topic is a subgrouping of Lexicon Entries. Topics allow us a few things:

• Quicker loading times and smaller cache files for lexicons as they are loaded
• Load only the lexicon strings you need - not all of them like in 0.9.6
• Easier categorization and organization of your lexicons

So, as you can see, there’s a lot of Topics in the ’core’ Namespace. Those represent different areas of the manager.


Currently, the best way to translate them would be as you said - export the ’en’ versions of each topic, translate them, then import them in under the corresponding new language.

Furthermore, once you’ve done that - you could package all the topics and entries you’ve translated into a ’MODx French Translation’ package, upload it to the MODx Extras section as a Core Extension, and then watch as your translation is easily accessible to anyone who runs MODx Revolution through the Package Management system.

Ok thanks for the answer, but is there a way to export all topics at once ?
Given the number of topics this could be a bit tedious

I might need a bit of help to "package all the topics", unless packaging means aggregating all files into one ?
I’ll dig deeper but I’ll definitely work as fast as possible to get this released ASAP

Quote from: davidm at May 29, 2009, 09:44 AM

Ok thanks for the answer, but is there a way to export all topics at once ?
Given the number of topics this could be a bit tedious

No, not currently. Would be a great JIRA todo to add.

I might need a bit of help to "package all the topics", unless packaging means aggregating all files into one ?
I’ll dig deeper but I’ll definitely work as fast as possible to get this released ASAP

I have a tutorial on creating Packages here:

http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/revolution/Creating+a+3rd+Party+Component+Build+Script

But if that looks too intimidating, we can talk about another solution later.

Ok thank you very much for the quick assist and duly noted for the todo, I’ll add this tommorrow... currently cooking diner for my other half (it’s her birthday) As we french don’t have enough variety in our cooking (lol), I am preparing a chicken curry with safran rice, but the wine is french as you most probably expect I also have to get started baking the Naans !

Instead of exporting every topic - use the english language files in core/lexicon/en. Make a new folder for your language and add copies of the english files. Change the language in the settings. When you want to see the fruits of your labour - do a "Rebuild Core Entries from Base" in "Lexicon Management".

Quote from: Pont at May 29, 2009, 01:53 PM

Instead of exporting every topic - use the english language files in core/lexicon/en. Make a new folder for your language and add copies of the english files. Change the language in the settings. When you want to see the fruits of your labour - do a "Rebuild Core Entries from Base" in "Lexicon Management".

That too.

Cool, I like that !

Thanks

Quote from: davidm at May 29, 2009, 11:12 AM

Ok thank you very much for the quick assist and duly noted for the todo, I’ll add this tommorrow... currently cooking diner for my other half (it’s her birthday)   As we french don’t have enough variety in our cooking (lol), I am preparing a chicken curry with safran rice, but the wine is french as you most probably expect   I also have to get started baking the Naans !

Happy Birthday to your wife, David!

P.S. I happen to love chicken curry with safran. And Naan is some of my favorite bread. I’m a big fan of a good Turkish kofte and beyti, some apple chai, and Moroccan couscous myself.