[Zope3-dev] selecting the translation domain in ZCML

[Jean-Marc Orliaguet]

Dieter Maurer wrote:
> Jean-Marc Orliaguet wrote at 2006-5-30 22:13 +0200:
>   
>> ...
>> Dieter Maurer wrote:
>> ...
>>     
>>> In my view the translation domain is vital for translators --
>>> as the domain guides the correct translations.
>>>       
>> ...
>> But it is the application that eventually sets the domain name to use, 
>> based on the context. Translators have no control over it, since they 
>> have no control over page templates or over python code.
>>     
>
> You are right, of course: translators do not chose the domain
> but are informed about it. However, this does not contradict
> that the translation domain is specified in the ".po" file -- as
> the translations in this file are only valid in the
> translation domain for which they have been made...
>
>   

It's a practical issue, I think. The way I'm organizing translations 
right now is that I'm creating a folder (named 'locales' for instance) 
with different languages 'en', 'fr' in it. So far no difference.

then inside the LC_MESSAGES folders I will place categories of translations:

- widgets.po
- portlets.po ...

see for example: 
http://svn.z3lab.org/trac/z3lab/browser/cpsskins/branches/paris-sprint-2006/standard/locales

this is instead of having one big .po file that contains everything. 
I've noticed that it's difficult to create and maintain sections inside 
a .po file. The categorization is done here on the filename. So not 
having a hardcoded filename <-> domain is an advantage.

also notice that few packages register translations in several domains.

>> Hence, the translators are only concerned with putting translations into 
>> folders ('business_terms', 'furniture', ...), no matter what the domain 
>> name will be called.
>>     
>
> But why would you want a different domain name than that communicated
> to the translators? Do you prefer meaningless over strong names?
>
>   

put it the other way around: if you communicate a domain name to 
translators you have to inform them whenever the domain name changes.

I've just written a mergeTranslations directive, it's rather simple to use:
http://svn.z3lab.org/trac/z3lab/browser/cpsskins/branches/paris-sprint-2006/configuration/i18n/metaconfigure.py

the ZCML is:
<cpsskins:mergeTranslations domain="cpsskins" directory="locales" />

I guess that 01_..., 02_... or some other filename scheme could be used 
to control the merge order in case some translations should override 
other translations.

Regards /JM