
This file contains some remarks that may be of use to people undertaking
to translate TeraDesk to languages other than English.



General remarks
---------------

- Resource files of TeraDesk are maintained using Interface V2.33 (2.34?)

- After modifying the resource file it is good to compare its structure
  with the original file. 'Compare RSCs' function in Interface can be used.
  All parameters should be checked, except object states, texts, and (maybe)
  sizes and positions.

- Usually, changes in the resource file between subsequent versions are
  small and an existing translated previous version of the resource file
  can be carefully updated. There is no need to start each time from scratch.
  See the next section: Changes in V4... relative to previous version.

- If translated texts do not fit into available spaces in the dialogs, alerts
  or the menu, the translator should use his/her imagination to find the best
  possible solution for the problem- items can be moved within the dialogs,
  sometimes the sizes of objects can be changed, words or phrases that are
  not literal translations can be used, etc.


Changes in V4.08 relative to previous versions (V4.06 and V4.07)
----------------------------------------------------------------

There were no changes in the resource file.

 
Changes in V4.07 relative to previous version (V4.06)
-----------------------------------------------------

There were no changes in the resource file.

 
Changes in V4.06 relative to previous version (V4.05)
-----------------------------------------------------

String MNOCASE was added to the View menu.


Changes in V4.05 relative to previous version (V4.04)
-----------------------------------------------------

There were modifications in the WOPTIONS dialog tree. If a translated 
resource file is being prepared from a file for TeraDesk V4.04, it may be 
convenient for the editor to duplicate the sequence of modifications below:

- Height of the WOPTIONS dialog was changed from 16 to 18 character units
- Button WOPTOK was moved down 2 character units
- Cancel button was named WOPTCAN and moved down 2 units
- F-text objects IXGRID and IXOF were added, in that order
- F-text objects IYGRID and IYOF were added, in that order
- F-text object TABSIZE was lengthened by inserting one space character

Be sure to set the "background" flag on new F-text objects.


Naming of object trees
----------------------

Names of dialog-type object trees do not follow any particular rule, except
that they are associative to the purpose of the dialog. However, with some
unfortunate exceptions, most other object trees are named as follows:

DT* - dialog titles texts (for dialogs in which the titles are not constant)
FS* - texts for file selector titles
M*  - various texts, mostly messages in error alerts
T*  - some are texts for alerts, other are strings appearing in dialogs.
P*  - strings with descriptions of program header flags
A*  - alerts

Note that the file named DESKTOP.RSD must be present in the same directory
as DESKTOP.RSC in order to make object names visible in the resource editor.


About the menu
--------------

- Care should be taken to leave adequate space for keyboard shortcuts in
  each menu item (4 characters). This space is marked in menu strings by
  underline characters as '____'

- If possible, it should be tested whether the translated menu fits into
  the screen width in ST-low resolution. TeraDesk is supposed to work in
  all screen resolutions starting from 320x200 (e.g. ST-low).

- TeraDesk can display appropriate page from the hypertext manual if [Help]
  key is pressed while a dialog is open. In order for this feature to work,
  chapter titles in the hypertext manual must exactly match texts of menu
  items used to open paricular dialogs.


About the dialog-type object trees
----------------------------------

- Dialog sizes can be changed if necessary in order to fit translated texts,
  but should not exceed 312 pixels horizontally by 320 pixels vertically.
  This is the largest dialog size that fits in the lowest possible screen
  resolution (320x200) that TeraDesk can handle.

- Sizes (widths) of dialog titles should not be changed unless dialog widths
  are changed, even if texts of translated titles have lengths different
  from English titles.  This is needed in order to correctly display the
  title underline or box across the full width of the dialog.

- Some texts in the INFOBOX dialog (e.g. program version and date of
  compilation) are set in the code of the program.

- There are hidden items in dialogs. Visibility of such items should not
  be changed. A program like RSCTRAN can be used to extract all texts
  from the resource file in order to check whether all hidden items have
  been found and translated.

- There are overlapping (invisible) box-type objects in some dialogs. Care
  should be taken not to change the order of these objects and the structure
  of the resource file when editing them (i.e. objects covering other objects
  should -not- be "adopted as children").


About the scrolled-editable-text objects
----------------------------------------

- Scrolled editable text fields (objects with extended type 13) can be
  modified in length if convenient (e.g. to make them fit into a dialog),
  because TeraDesk uses them in such a way that it is safe to do so. However,
  two-characters-long free spaces should always be left in dialog area both
  on the left and on the on the right of these objects, because, if a text
  longer than field length is contained in the object, visible text is bracketed
  between a pair of "< >" characters that appears on the left and on the right
  of the object.

- Two highest object flags bits are used in some of the objects of this
  type for specific purposes. States of these flags should be preserved.


About the button-type objects
-----------------------------

- TeraDesk uses higher ob_state bits in button objects to mark hotkeys.
  The "[" character is NOT recognized for such purpose in button texts.

- Checkbox-button and radio-button objects appearing in groups should be
  set to equal widths, appropriate for the longest button text to fit in.
  In some AESes, when these objects are set to disabled state,  bounding
  rectangles are visible and they look ugly if not set to equal widths.


Some specific free-string object trees
--------------------------------------

- Strings MISINGUL and MIPLURAL contain parts of the texts that appear in
  info lines of directory windows when one or more objects are visible or
  selected.

- Strings FLINAME to FOINAME contain names of essential icons that should
  always exist in the icons recource files used by TeraDesk. These strings
  should not be translated unless one wants also to translate icon names
  in the icons resource files.

- String TLINKTO contains default text that is prepended to file/folder
  name when a symbolic link to that object is made. It should contain only
  characters that are legal in file/folder names.

- Strings PFFLOAD to PPSHARE contain descriptions of program header flags
  that appear in the Info... dialog when a program file is shown. It is
  suggested that these strings are not translated or, if they are, that
  the translated texts be not longer than original ones.

- String TBYTES appears in the name-conflict dialog when displaying file
  sizes. It should end with a trailing space.

- Strings TFNVALID and TFNTMPLT contain the validation and the template
  string, respectively, for those FTEXT-type dialog fields that are switched
  to 8+3 filename format in single-TOS when appropriate. It is recommended
  that they are not modified (see also next remark).

- String XFNVALID has a similiar function like TFNVALID, but is used when
  name masks are entered, and therefore permits additional characters 
  (used as wildcards) in the filename and the extension. It may be changed
  to XXXXXXXXXX to permit any character in any place.

- String CANCTXT contains all words that appear on Cancel or Abort buttons
  in TeraDesk dialogs. Words should be enclosed between "|" characters.
  Any leading or trailing spaces should be included. Maximum possible
  length of any of these words is 13 characters.

- String TDONTEDI contains an informational text that is written into each
  configuration file. It must begin with a ";"

- String TNFILES should be exactly as long as the non-editable beginning
  of the template string of the FTEXT-type object FLFILES in the FILEINFO
  dialog.

- Strings TFIALL and TFIMORE are button texts that alternatively appear
  on the leftmost button in the Info... dialog. They must fit into button
  size, and in both words the characters at the same locations (e.g. the
  first characters) must be usable as hotkeys (shortcuts).

- Some strings are divided by "|" characters. They appear as separate text
  lines in alerts. If possible, number of divisions in any string should not
  be changed, and the length of any line should not exceed 31 characters.

