Re: Translations was Re: [Gnumed-devel] Interest in GNUmed

[Karsten Hilbert]

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 11:27:59AM +0100, Jerzy Luszawski wrote:

> I also have a small part translated to Polish, but I've got some questions:

Great ! Would you like to submit it ?

> There are 2 places where translation is done: in the
> client software (this comes from .po/.mo files) and in the
> backend (i18n schema). These two places are unrelated to
> each other - right?

That's right.

> Are there any plans/proposals of consolidating the translations?

I wish I could but I don't see how (Conceptually, that is.
Technically it'd be fairly easy.) One of the problems is this:

User A adds encounter type "at golf course".

If the translation is only known to and done in the frontend then

a) no other type of frontend would now the translation unless updated
b) even this very same client cannot have a translation unless the .mo-file
   is updated (which is, admittedly, doable but still begs for a minor.minor 
release)

If the translation is known to and done in the backend upon
any retrieval (SELECT) of that new encounter type any newly
added translation is immediately known to *any* client
connecting to that database.

Think of document types, lab tests, address types,
connection method types ...  Basically any user-definable
enumeration. In fact, it is conceptually not at all
different from using codes to describe entities. Except that
the "code" is the original English term :-)

I know this is taking i18n quite far but hey, as long as
it's conveniently handled for the user. That's also why it
of course falls back to the original term if no translation
is known.

Maybe some of this explanation should be tacked onto the one
in the Wiki ?

> Are there any tools for copying translated items from one place to the other?

Not really although it might be a good idea to look up
translated items inside each other.

Karsten
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