Projects/Summer of Code/2007/Projects/KAider

KAider is a computer-aided translation system that focuses on productivity and performance. Translator does only creative work (of delivering message in his/her mother language in laconic and easy to understand form). KAider implies parapgraph-by-paragrah translation approach (when translating documentation) and message-by-message approach (when translating GUI). See KAider/Introduction

Current state

Already has:

• syntax highlighting
• spellcheck (problems with dividing filter:doesnt check the last word)
• search-n-replace, ignoring accel marks
• small features like quick tag insert, placing text cursor right after the tag in the beginning (e.g. '<qt>|foobar</qt>' where "|" is a cursor)
• entry bookmarks
• viewer of the difference between current msgid and previous one (i.e. msgid translation of which current msgstr really is -- for fuzzies generated with --previous gettext option)
• merge mode for editors (QA) or when several translators work on the same file screenshot
• basic projectmanager functionality screenshot
• glossary with basic tbx format support. KAider displays relevant entries on-the-fly and provides shortcuts to insert them. also, you can add new glossary terms via context menu of the glossary screenshot
• webquery view, flexible thanks to kross

Compiling

After you set kde env up (compiling kdelibs is enough):

cd trunk
svn up playground/devtools/kaider
su kde-devel
mkdir playground/devtools/kaider/build
cd playground/devtools/kaider/build
cmakekde ..

as a root, run sshd and then from the usual shell:

ssh -XC kde-devel@localhost
kaider

Roadmap

• [basic framework DONE] project management -- 1-2 weeks
• [DONE] context glossary -- 0.5-1 week
• translation DB (QtSql) -- 2 weeks
• [DONE] mode for merging translations for editors (QA) -- 1 week
• scripting API + sipping on google translate for live glossary (kross) - 2 weeks
• the remaining time is for perfection/polishing/small improvements and xliff+qt-linguist support

What i'm doing these days

• kross WebQuery framework - testing, final refinements
• impovements on ProjectView (dbus, etc), Glossary

Ideas

Current:

• Webquery scripts for close languages;
• project-wise and program-wise: webquery scripts, glossaries, TMs
• Glossary editing usability

Further work:

• Research on dividing into sentences rules (e.g. srx)
• Automate submitting translation suggestions to translate.google.com [Kross action]

Not for KDE:

• Be complete computer-aided translation system by providing e.g. actions to import+export openoffice, txt and documents of other formats by calling appropriate scripts/commands. Define for that general kross actions interface.
• Make nice windoze package for the windowzerz

KBabel features to be implemented

...in the smarter way :). After or during the summer.

• Character selection tool integration (kdelibs rule); sort by the frequency
• persistent bookmarks for messages in a file saved in the project
• extended marking of .po and .pot files (e.g. translator that currently works on the file and cince when) saved in the project
• Search/Replace functions in multiple files at once.
• Spellchecking of multiple files at once.
• Opening source code by references in message comments [Kross action]
• A plugin framework for validation tools for consistency checks [Kross action triggered on saving]
• Sending the file using email [Kross (project) action]
• Automatic syntax check with msgfmt when saving and, if an error occured, easy navigation to messages, which contain errors. == Syntax check (msgfmt --statistics) for existing files to control if the translated files will compile and, accordingly, work when distributed [Kross (project) action]
• CVS and SVN support [Kross project action] (is 'svn ci' so hard?)
• Automatic comparisons and statistics of POT and PO files for a quick overview which and how many files are translated (or not) and which files may be obsolete + [Kross (project) action] that merges translations with updated template
• PO File Header change [Kross action (+triggered on saving)]
• Printing of selected messages (eg fuzzy ) [Kross action]

KBabel features NOT to be implemented

• Automatic ("rough" in kbabel terms) translation. Pure machine translation is a joke. All machine-made translations must be verified by human (and let it be a translator rather then user).

Why? because sometimes one english string may have two or more different translations depending on the context.

What I'm going to do is implement _interactive_ (or message-by-message) rough translation, when, if the message is already translated somewhere else, it suggests the translations (several, not one!) and displays them in the helper window. translator then may choose one of the translation suggestions by pressing ctrl+1, ctrl+2, .. or ctrl+9, which will immediately insert it into msgstr  (replacing the old translation if it exists).

What old rough translation didnt provide is the ability to choose.

Setup

• Create project, saving *.ktp file to l10n-kde4/<LangCode>
• That's all. Begin populating Glossary via GlossaryView context menu, and .tbx file will be created automatically for you.