Calling all Skype script translators: I need to check some things with you, so I can make your lives easier for future Skype script updates...
Due to the way I manage Skype scripts (and other scripting projects I work on), the order of lines in jsm and jsd files sometimes changes. This makes it hard for translators to figure out exactly what changed in a jsm or jsd file. For small changes, I used to give out "diffs," or context-inclusive descriptions of where changes happened in each file. However, this has become prohibitively time-consuming as the number of translators and the number of updates have simultaneously increased. So I am trying to design a utility, probably to be written in Javascript or VBScript so it will run on all Windows machines without further installations, that will do the following: 1. Examine all jsm and jsd files in the English script folder, and also all corresponding files in another folder where you have placed your already-translated versions. 2. Use these file sets to create a third set of files consisting of all material from the current script files but with any translations you already made included. Any new untranslated constants will appear in the results with a comment above them like, "; TODO: Untranslated." Your job will then be to remove these comments and translate what comes right after them. The utility would automatically remove any constants that are no longer relevant to the current scripts, copy all comments from the current scripts (in English) to the resulting files, and keep things in the order in which they appear in the new files. The utility will not, for reasons of complexity, be able to detect or copy any comments added by the translator to translated files. Also, if any constants are renamed, which does happen, the translator will need to rename them in the translated files before running this utility, or the newly renamed constants will show up again in English and need retranslation after the utility is run. Due to limitations of the languages I'm considering, I will probably have to hard-code the locations of files/folders containing scripts, because I don't know a way to have the utility ask the user for input without requiring the user to work harder to run the utility in a console window. I'm shooting for a utility that you run just by pressing Enter on it in Windows Explorer here. If this gets too hard to manage, I will fall back to a command-line-based approach, where I can let you provide folder paths and options and such. Questions I want answered before I write this utility - and if you just don't think this thing sounds useful to you, feel free to tell me that, too, without fear of offending me: 1. When translating, and when you download a script update from me, where would you put the English scripts to translate from? I can imagine you might put them in your JAWS user folder or in a folder of your chooseing, but mostly I want to know which of those. 2. Where would you put the scripts you have already translated that you are now trying to update based on the update you just got from me? Again, I'm looking for "in a JAWS user folder" or "in a folder somewhere else." 3. Would you want the utility to write a new file set in a new folder, or to replace your translated files with the updates? This will affect how easy it is for you to package the results for your web site. 4. Do you know if your antivirus software categorically blocks either VBScript, Javascript, or both file types from executing from within Windows Explorer? (I believe Norton did or does this.) 5. What are your name, email address, and Skype ID if you want to provide that? 6. Which language or languages do you translate the scripts into, and if applicable, where do you post them for download? I will use the answers to questions 1 and 2 to decide where to have the utility look for files, and the answers to question 3 to decide where the utility should put its results. Question 4 may help me decide which language to write this in. If a lot of people find that their antivirus package blocks VBScript and Javascript files, I may write this thing in Python and require ActivePython to be installed to run it. I do not plan to create an installer and executable (.exe) package for this, because that would slow maintenance of the utility. I will use the remaining answers to build a list of translators of the Skype scripts in case more questions arise. Please answer these questions by email, to the list or to me at [email protected]. Thanks much for your input. If any of you knows of a Skype script translator that does not follow this list, please feel free to forward this message. -- Doug Lee [email protected] http://www.dlee.org SSB BART Group [email protected] http://www.ssbbartgroup.com "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' ('I found it!') but rather 'hmm.... that's funny...'" -- Isaac Asimov Thanks for posting to the skype english list. To access scripts for the latest version of skype go to http://www.dlee.org/skype To access tutorials and other goodies go to http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html To contact the list owner send a message to mailto:[email protected] to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to this link. http://www.hrvojekatic.tk/ and for a searchable archives page go here. http://bit.ly/64Y48 thanks and have a wonderful day. _______________________________________________ Skypeenglish mailing list [email protected] http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com
