advice on making app with multiple GUI languages

[goldenix]

hi

I decided to code an app that has more than 2 languages, It is stand alone & portable with just 1 file. I have no experience doing this, so I figured to ask for some advise on how to do this.

What are the techniques used to program multiple language GUIs?

My current idea is to create several global variables like this, but this is going to get really bukly:

isnt there a better way ?

$Default_lang = 'Eng'

If $Default_lang = 'Eng'    Then ToolTip('test messsage')
If $Default_lang = 'jp'     Then ToolTip('テストメッセージ')
If $Default_lang = 'ru'     Then ToolTip('Тестовое сообщение')

[bogQ]

maby something like this

#include <Array.au3>
$Default_lang = 'Eng'
Global $v
Switch $Default_lang
    Case 'Eng'
        $v = 0
    Case 'France'
        $v = 1
    Case 'Africanis'
        $v = 2
EndSwitch
Dim $language[10][3] = [ _
    ['one','un','een'], _
    ['two','deux','twee'], _
    ['three','trois','drie'], _
    ['four','quatre','vier'], _
    ['five','cinq','vyf'], _
    ['six','six ','ses'], _
    ['seven','sept','sewe'], _
    ['eight','huit','agt'], _
    ['nine','neuf','nege'], _
    ['ten','dix','tien'] _
]
;~ _ArrayDisplay($language)
For $x = 0 To UBound($language)-1
    ToolTip($language[$x][$v])
    Sleep(500)
Next
MsgBox(0,'','The End')

[jaberwacky]

Put your strings into a file:

test message1
テストメッセージ1
Тестовое сообщение1
 
test message2
テストメッセージ2
Тестовое сообщение2
 
test message3
テストメッセージ3
Тестовое сообщение3

And then load your string variables from that?

I have not used more than one language either so this might be a bad idea.

Maybe an ini file will work too.

Better yet, separate files for each language.

$variable1 test message1
$variable2 test message2
$variable3 test message3

$variable1 テストメッセージ1
$variable2 テストメッセージ2
$variable3 テストメッセージ3

$variable1 Тестовое сообщение1
$variable2 Тестовое сообщение2
$variable3 Тестовое сообщение3

Even better yet still, XML!

<script>
<$variable1>
<English>"Test Message 1"</English>
<Lang2>"テストメッセージ1"</Lang2>
<Lang3>"Тестовое сообщение1"</Lang3>
</$variable1>
 
<$variable2>
<English>"Test Message 2"</English>
<Lang2>"テストメッセージ2"</Lang2>
<Lang3>"Тестовое сообщение2"</Lang3>
</$variable2>
 
<$variable3>
<English>"Test Message 3"</English>
<Lang2>"テストメッセージ3"</Lang2>
<Lang3>"Тестовое сообщение3"</Lang3>
</$variable3>
</script>

Edited October 11, 2011 by LaCastiglione

[ParSalian]

I usually use an array populated with default language (spanish in my case), and when launching script, check existence of an external lang file: if so, replace array values with file values (can be based on parameters or so). Of course, script doesn't uses strings directly, it uses array elements.

[Syed23]

why don't you to create your own header file which will contain all the details of the GUI based on the language? For example, your UDF should have the functions with Language title inside that you decalare whatever wnats