# Stonevoice Translator Features Overview

## Contents

Stonevoice Translator has many advanced features that help you to speed up the localization process and make your translation more consistent. Some of these features are optional, and most of them are enabled by default. You may want to disable some features based on your actual needs.

- Real-time Testing
  Allows you to see the results of your translation in real-time over a running Stonevoice Application Suite.
- Decoration Check
  Warns you if you add trailing spaces, newlines or symbols by mistake.
- Tags
  Provide meta-data for nodes, such as the "auto set" or "to be verified" flags.
- Macros
  Macros let you associate common strings with function keys to save typing time.

More advanced features include:

- Old Translation Support
  If you have already translated some strings for an older version of an application, you may import your work in the localization structure of the newer version. Or you may choose to keep the old version open as a reference and translate manually.
- Dictionary
  While you localize, the translation you type for a given reference string is recorded in the dictionary. When you move to an untranslated entry that has the same reference string, Stonevoice Translator fills in the translation automatically.

The following topics are covered only in the User Guide:

- Navigation
  Allows you to move through entries using different criteria.
- Advanced Search
  Allows you to define different search criteria and use them to move through nodes.
- Work on Search Results
  Allows you to do batch operations on nodes.

## Real-time Testing

If the application you are translating for supports dynamic loading of language files, you can setup a test environment to verify in real-time how your translation looks in the application's user interface.

### Preparing the Test Environment for the Stonevoice Application Suite

If you are a Stonevoice Partner and are going to test the translation of the Stonevoice Application Suite, you have to follow these steps to prepare the test environment:

1. Check that you have installed the correct version of the Stonevoice Application Suite. If not, upgrade to the latest build available from the Stonevoice web site.
2. If the Application Suite is installed on another machine, share the directory where the Application Suite has been installed. This directory is usually:
   `C:\Program Files\StonevoiceAS`
3. Open the files to be localized in Stonevoice Translator.
4. Locate the `Stonevoice.svt` file that is open as a reference. The file name is shown near the Reference label in the upper left corner of the window. For example:
   `C:\Program Files\SvTranslator\Work\en\Stonevoice.svt`
5. Copy the `Stonevoice.svt` file in the directory where the Application Suite is installed.

> Note - Newer Stonevoice Application Suite builds may already have installed a `Stonevoice.svt` file. In that case, do not overwrite the existing file but use the one provided with the SAS.

### Enabling real-time testing

1. Click on the fourth Open button, near the Test Output label (or press `Ctrl-T`).
2. Open the file the application reads translatable strings from. For the Stonevoice Application Suite, open the `Stonevoice.svt` file in the directory where the Application Suite is installed.
3. Confirm overwriting when asked.
4. Click on the drop-down arrow near the Save button in the Test Output row.
5. Click on the Save Test File on Every Change menu item.

### More Information

See the user guide for more information on test save modes.

## Decoration Check

Decorations are special characters or spaces added at the beginning or at the end of a string to emphasize it, enclose it, or correctly join it to other strings.

Usually, decorations must not be changed. Thus, Stonevoice Translator by default warns you if you alter decorations by mistake. If decorations in the Reference and Translation text boxes do not match, Stonevoice Translator displays the following alerter near the string:

> [D!]

Moreover, to avoid decoration editing, Stonevoice Translator by default hides all the decorations that are identical in the reference string and the translation string.

Tip - The [D!] alerter is not displayed if the string is marked with the "verified" flag, even though the "Decorations don't match" property is still set.

### More Information

See the user guide for advanced information on decorations.

## Tags

Tags provide meta-data for all kind of nodes. Tags can be applied to all entries as well as structural nodes, though they are most useful for translatable entries.

The most commonly used tags are the "verified" and "to be verified" flags. The former marks an entry as "correct" even if Stonevoice Translator thinks there's something wrong with it (for instance, decorations don't match). The latter marks an entry (even a "verified" one) for further review, and causes Stonevoice Translator to display the [V] alerter near the entry in the Contents tree view.

The "auto set from dictionary" and "auto set from old translation" are automatically set when you lookup a string from the dictionary or import a string from the old translation, respectively.

Tags are saved in tagfiles with a `.svt` extension. Different tagfiles are maintained for the reference, the old translation and the translation. Note that the translation tagfile may contain information for nodes which are not part of the translation file.

### More Information

Only tags in the translation can be viewed and modified. Tags in the old translation are not visible but are imported in the translation by default when you click on one of the Import buttons. Tags in the reference are ignored.

Tags in the translation are directly related with the node properties with the same name. This allows you to do an advanced search and select only entries with particular tags set or not set.

## Macros

Macros help you by associating common strings used for localization to function keys.

## Old Translation Support

When new versions of an application are released, the language files are modified accordingly. If you have already translated a language file for an older version of the same application, Stonevoice Translator allows you to import the strings you have already translated while preserving the structure of the new language file.

To upgrade your translation when a new reference is available:

1. Run Stonevoice Translator and click on the first Open button, near the Reference label (or press `Ctrl-L`).
2. Open the reference file.
3. Click on the New button near the Translation label (or press `Ctrl-N`).
4. Save the empty translation in a new file. If the reference file is a translator tree (`.svt`), save it in an empty folder.
5. Click on the second Open button, near the Old Translation label (or press `Ctrl-E`).
6. Open the old translation file. This file should be the one you formerly opened as a translation.
7. Open the Options window and verify that the options in the Import category are as you expect.
8. Click on the Import button over the Contents tree view.

When you click on the Import button over the Contents tree view, each untranslated entry is checked against the old translation, if available. If an old version of the same entry exists, it will be used as the current translation. Tags are also imported if requested.

By default, entries that are successfully imported are marked as such, and can be navigated and verified. Note that items marked as "auto set from old translation" are considered to be correct, so they do not show up as untranslated.

## Dictionary

The dictionary associates a reference string with one or more known translations. By default, every translation you type for a given reference string is recorded in the dictionary. When you move to an untranslated entry that has the same reference string, Stonevoice Translator fills in the translation automatically.

You may change the default behaviour by clicking on the Options button and selecting the Dictionary category. You may enable or disable automatic recording or automatic lookup, or disable all the dictionary functions at once.

- If automatic lookup is disabled, click on the Dictionary Lookup button over the Translation text box to check if a known translation exists. Click again on the same button to check if a different translation exists for the same reference string.
- If automatic recording is disabled, click on the drop-down arrow near the Dictionary Lookup button over the Translation text box, then click on the Add to Dictionary menu item to add the translation to the dictionary.

### More Information

The dictionary counts how many times every string has been used and how many times the suggested translation has been rejected. When you close Stonevoice Translator, these statistics are used to sort strings so that the program, when reopened, will suggest the more frequently used strings first. To see these statistics, open the Options window, select the Dictionary category and click on the Edit Dictionary button.