Create translation file

This command in the ‘Project’ ‘Translate into another language’ menu leads to the ‘Create translation file’ dialog.

Dialog for creating a translation file

In the Translation file field, enter a path that shows where the file is to be stored. The default file extension is *.tlt; this is a text file. You also can use the extension *.txt, which is recommended, if you want to work on the file in EXCEL or WORD, because in this case the data are organized in table format.

If there already exists a translation file which you want to process, give the path of this file or use the Search button to reach the standard Windows file selection dialog.

The following information from the project can optionally be passed to the translation file that is being modified or created, so that they will be available for translation: Names (names, e.g. the title ‘POUs’ in Object Organizer), Identifiers, Strings, Comments, Visualisation texts, Alarm texts. In addition, Position information for these project elements can be transferred.

If the corresponding options are checked, the information from the current project will be exported as language symbols into a newly created translation file or added to an already existing one. If the respective option is not selected, information belonging to the pertinent category, regardless of which project it came from, will be deleted from the translation file.

The option “Visualisation texts” only concerns ‘Text’ and ‘Tooltip-Text’ of a visualization element. Regard the following items when using a translation file for visualization texts:

• A *.tlt- or *.txt translation file only can be used with CoDeSys or CoDeSys HMI, not however with Target-Visualization or Web-Visualization. It might be better to use a special visualization language file *.vis.
• Switching to another language is only possible in online mode. This means that the visualization texts will not be translated by command ‘Project’ ‘Translate into another language’. A language change can only occur in Online mode if the corresponding language is entered in the ‘Extras’ ‘Settings’ dialog.
• If a *.tlt- or *.txt-file should be used for visualization texts (‘Text’ and ‘Text for Tooltip’),  the texts must be bracketed by two “#” symbols in the configuration dialog of the visualization element (e.g. #text#) in order to be transferred to the translation file.
• Concerning the language switching in visualizations see ‘Extras’ ‘Settings’.

Position information: This describes with the specifications file path, POU and line the position of the language symbol made available for translation. Three options are available for selection:

‘None’:	No position information is generated.
‘First appearance’:	The position on which the element first appears is added to the translation file.
‘All’:	All positions on which the corresponding element appears are specified.

If a translation file created earlier is to be edited which already contains more position information than that currently selected, it will be correspondingly truncated or deleted, regardless of which project it was generated from.

Note

A maximum of 64 position specifications will be generated per element (language symbol), even if the user has selected “All” under “Position Information” in the ‘Create Translation File’ dialog.

Overwrite existing: Existing position information in the translation file, that is currently being processed, will be overwritten, regardless of which project generated it.

Target languages: This list contains identifiers for all languages which are contained in the translation file, as well as those to be added upon completion of the ‘Create translation file’ dialog.

The Exclude button opens the ‘Exclude libraries’ dialog. Here, libraries included to the project can be selected, whose identifier information is not to be transferred to the translation file. To accomplish this, the corresponding entry in the table Included libraries on the left is selected with the mouse and placed in the Excluded libraries table to the right using the Add button. Likewise, entries already placed there can be removed using the Remove button. OK confirms the setting and closes the dialog.

Dialog for excluding library information for the translation file:

The Add button opens the ‘Add Target Language’ dialog:

Dialog for adding a target language (Project, Translate into Another Language):

A language identifier must be entered into the editor field; it may not have a space or an umlaut character (ä, ö, ü) at either the beginning or the end.

OK closes the ‘Add Target Language’ dialog and the new target language appears in the target language list.

The Remove button removes a selected entry from the list.

You may also confirm the “Create translation file” dialog via OK, in order to generate a translation file.

If a translation file of the same name already exists you will get the following confirmation message to be answered Yes or No:

” The specified translation file already exists. It will now be altered and a backup copy of the existing file will be created. Do you want to continue?”

No returns you without action to the ‘Create translation file’ dialog. If Yes is selected, a copy of the existing translation file with the filename “Backup_of_<translation file>.xlt” will be created in the same directory and the corresponding translation file will be modified in accordance with the options that have been entered.

The following takes place \ when a translation file is generated:

• For each new target language, a placeholder (“##TODO”) is generated for each language symbol to be displayed. (See Editing of the translation file’ for how to work on the translation file.)
• If an existing translation file is processed, file entries of languages that appear in the translation file, but not in the target language list, are deleted, regardless of the project from which they were generated.