Language files


Easy Code version 1.04.0.0001 and later take advantage of Unicode text strings and allows you to work with practically all languages (see Multilanguage support). Language files must have the lge extension and they must be found in the Language subfolder of the Easy Code main folder. All .lge files being there will be listed in the Settings window so that you can choose the one you wish for Easy Code. When running on Wndows 95/98/ME, languages having more than one byte per character will not be shown in the available languages list as they cannot be properly displayed.

A language file must be in Unicode format (2 bytes per character) and looks like this:

;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lang=English (International) ; Author: Ramon Sala (asm@easycode.cat)
;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Strings]
10000=Visual interface development environment
10001=Acc&elerator:
10002=Enable synta&x highlighting
10003=&Add
...
...



Language files have to follow a few rules in order to work properly:

  1 - All comments must be preceeded by a semicolon (";")
  2 - You can add as many comments as you like before the [Strings] keyword.
  3 - The Lang keyword must exist (before the [Strings] keyword) and specifies the language name, i.e. English (United Kingdom).
  4 - The [Strings] keyword must exist and specifies the begining of text strings.
  5 - Each text string must be preceeded by the number which identifies the string and the "=" separator.
  6 - There must not be anything else than text strings after the [Strings] keyword.


When choosing a language in the Settings window, the text after the Lang keyword, and before the semicolon, will be the one being shown as the chosen language, and the text strings (in the [Strings] section) will be the ones being used by Easy Code. So, to make a new language file, i.e. french, we open the ECEngIN.lge file with "Notepad" and do the following:

  1 - Change the language name and author (note the semicolon separating the author's name and email):
    ;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Lang=Français (France)  ; Author: Name Surname (email@address)
    ;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  2 - Translate all text strings to the new language without modifying the string number and taking into account a few considerations commented below.

  3 - Save the modified file (as UNICODE text) using a different name (see LANGUAGE FILE NAMES) and place it in the Easy Code's Language subfolder.


An ampersand ("&") specifies that the character immediately after it will be shown underlined. As text is translated, you can modify the ampersands position according to the translation, but only for those strings which originally had one. That is, you should not include an ampersand in a string that did not have one in the original file.

Character combinations consisting of a backslash ("\") followed by a letter or the zero number are called “escape sequences”. For example, to specify a backslash you must type it twice ("\\"), like you would do in C language. Easy Code only recognizes the following escape sequences (letters must be lower case):

  \0  NULL (UNICODE character 0). Note the "0" number after the backslash, not the upper "O" letter.
  \a  Alert (UNICODE character 7)
  \b  Backspace (UNICODE character 8)
  \f  Form feed (UNICODE character 12)
  \n  Line feed (UNICODE character 10)
  \r  Carriage return (UNICODE character 13)
  \t  Horizontal tab (UNICODE character 9)
  \v  Vertical tab (UNICODE character 11)
  \"  Double quotation mark (UNICODE character 34)
  \'  Single quotation mark (UNICODE character 39)
  \?  Literal question mark (UNICODE character 63)
  \\  Backslash (UNICODE character 92)


Please take care to translate text strings respecting all blanks, escape sequences and those characters not being letters, without modifying the string number nor the "=" separator. Otherwise, Easy Code could display wrong messages or even behave in a strange way. If one or more text strings are missing, the default language (english) will be loaded.


LANGUAGE FILE NAMES

Any name may be valid for a language file if it has the "lge" extension and it is less or equal than 30 characters long, although it should fit the following convention:

  - The first two characters indentify the application using the file (EC for Easy Code).
  - Next three characters for the language name (Eng for english, Esp for spanish, etc.).
  - Two (or three) final characters for the country or region name (UK for United Kingdom, US for United States, etc.).
  - Finally, the ".lge" extension in order to be a valid language file.
  - Also, remeber that the file must be saved in UNICODE format.

So, for a file translated to french for France, the appropiated name would be ECFraFR.lge, while ECFraCA.lge would mean french for Canada.


REMARKS: Easy Code is distributed with a few language files that I personally translated. Please forgive me if you find any error, or an inappropiate syntax, and report it to me so that I can modify it immediately. That way, it will be ready for next versions of Easy Code.


IMPORTANT: Language files must be saved in UNICODE format (UTF-16) using 16 bits per character (not "UTF-8" nor "Unicode big endian"), otherwise they will not work. You can use the "Notepad" application (just Windows NT and later) and save the language files as Unicode text.


NOTE: If you translate a file to any other language, please send it to me. I will be pleased to include it in next versions of Easy Code.