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authordgp <dgp@users.sourceforge.net>2002-06-17 05:37:39 (GMT)
committerdgp <dgp@users.sourceforge.net>2002-06-17 05:37:39 (GMT)
commit7a43bd40e805191b59ac6cd750192c6a105e36a7 (patch)
tree8aaa67fc638b077452fca8d7278aedccda272e8c /doc/msgcat.n
parentb7a924bfc113e45051108b8a083c76b065622903 (diff)
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* Revised locale initialization to interpret
environment variable locale values according to XPG4, and to recognize the LC_ALL and LC_MESSAGES values over that of LANG. Also added many Windows Registry locale values to those recognized by msgcat. Revised tests and docs. Bumped to version 1.3. Thanks to Bruno Haible for the report and assistance crafting the solution. [Bug 525522, 525525]
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/msgcat.n')
-rw-r--r--doc/msgcat.n83
1 files changed, 55 insertions, 28 deletions
diff --git a/doc/msgcat.n b/doc/msgcat.n
index dddf499..2fb5591 100644
--- a/doc/msgcat.n
+++ b/doc/msgcat.n
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ msgcat \- Tcl message catalog
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBpackage require Tcl 8.2\fR
.sp
-\fBpackage require msgcat 1.2\fR
+\fBpackage require msgcat 1.3\fR
.sp
\fB::msgcat::mc \fIsrc-string\fR ?\fIarg arg ...\fR?
.sp
@@ -80,37 +80,46 @@ fixed width (which will be the width of the widest button).
\fB::msgcat::mclocale \fR?\fInewLocale\fR?
This function sets the locale to \fInewLocale\fR. If \fInewLocale\fR
is omitted, the current locale is returned, otherwise the current locale
-is set to \fInewLocale\fR.
-The initial locale defaults to the locale specified in
-the user's environment. See \fBLOCALE AND SUBLOCALE SPECIFICATION\fR
+is set to \fInewLocale\fR. msgcat stores and compares the locale in a
+case-insensitive manner, and returns locales in lowercase.
+The initial locale is determined by the locale specified in
+the user's environment. See \fBLOCALE SPECIFICATION\fR
below for a description of the locale string format.
.TP
\fB::msgcat::mcpreferences\fR
Returns an ordered list of the locales preferred by
the user, based on the user's language specification.
The list is ordered from most specific to least
-preference. If the user has specified LANG=en_US_funky,
-this procedure would return {en_US_funky en_US en}.
+preference. The list is derived from the current
+locale set in msgcat by \fBmsgcat::mclocale\fR, and
+cannot be set independently. For example, if the
+current locale is en_US_funky, then \fBmsgcat::mcpreferences\fR
+returns {en_US_funky en_US en}.
.TP
\fB::msgcat::mcload \fIdirname\fR
Searches the specified directory for files that match
-the language specifications returned by \fB::msgcat::mcpreferences\fR.
-Each file located is sourced. The file extension is ``.msg''.
-The number of message files which matched the specification
+the language specifications returned by \fB::msgcat::mcpreferences\fR,
+extended by the file extension ``.msg''. Each matching file is
+read in order, assuming a UTF-8 encoding. The file contents are
+then evaluated as a Tcl script. This means that non-Latin characters
+may be present in the message file either directly in their UTF-8
+encoded form, or by use of the backslash-u quoting recognized by Tcl
+evaluation. The number of message files which matched the specification
and were loaded is returned.
.TP
\fB::msgcat::mcset \fIlocale src-string \fR?\fItranslate-string\fR?
Sets the translation for \fIsrc-string\fR to \fItranslate-string\fR
-in the specified \fIlocale\fR. If \fItranslate-string\fR is not
-specified, \fIsrc-string\fR is used for both. The function
-returns \fItranslate-string\fR.
+in the specified \fIlocale\fR and the current namespace. If
+\fItranslate-string\fR is not specified, \fIsrc-string\fR is used
+for both. The function returns \fItranslate-string\fR.
.TP
\fB::msgcat::mcmset \fIlocale src-trans-list\fR
Sets the translation for multiple source strings in
-\fIsrc-trans-list\fR in the specified \fIlocale\fR.
+\fIsrc-trans-list\fR in the specified \fIlocale\fR and the current
+namespace.
\fIsrc-trans-list\fR must have an even number of elements and is in
the form {\fIsrc-string translate-string\fR ?\fIsrc-string
-translate-string ...\fR?} \fBmcsetcat::mcmset\fR can be significantly
+translate-string ...\fR?} \fBmsgcat::mcmset\fR can be significantly
faster than multiple invocations of \fBmsgcat::mcset\fR. The function
returns the number of translations set.
.TP
@@ -125,22 +134,35 @@ same stack context as the call to \fB::msgcat::mc\fR. The return vaue
of \fB::msgcat::mcunknown\fR is used as the return vaue for the call
to \fB::msgcat::mc\fR.
-.SH "LOCALE AND SUBLOCALE SPECIFICATION"
+.SH "LOCALE SPECIFICATION"
.PP
-The locale is specified by a locale string.
+The locale is specified to \fBmsgcat\fR by a locale string
+passed to \fB::msgcat::mclocale\fR.
The locale string consists of
a language code, an optional country code, and an optional
system-specific code, each separated by ``_''. The country and language
codes are specified in standards ISO-639 and ISO-3166.
-For example, the locale ``en'' specifies English and
- ``en_US'' specifes U.S. English.
+For example, the locale ``en'' specifies English and ``en_US'' specifies
+U.S. English.
.PP
-The locale defaults to the value in \fBenv(LANG)\fR at the time the
-\fBmsgcat\fR package is loaded. On Windows, if \fBenv(LANG)\fR is not
-set, the package will attempt to extract locale information from the
-registry. If it cannot find this information in the registry, or on
-non-Windows platforms when \fBenv(LANG)\fR is not defined, the
-locale defaults to ``C''.
+When the msgcat package is first loaded, the locale is initialized
+according to the user's environment. The variables \fBenv(LC_ALL)\fR,
+\fBenv(LC_MESSAGES)\fR, and \fBenv(LANG)\fR are examined in order.
+The first of them to have a non-empty value is used to determine the
+initial locale. The value is parsed according to the XPG4 pattern
+.CS
+language[_country][.codeset][@modifier]
+.CE
+to extract its parts. The initial locale is then set by calling
+\fBmsgcat::mclocale\fR with the argument
+.CS
+language[_country][_modifier]
+.CE
+On Windows, if none of those environment variables is set, msgcat will
+attempt to extract locale information from the
+registry. If all these attempts to discover an initial locale
+from the user's environment fail, msgcat defaults to an initial
+locale of ``C''.
.PP
When a locale is specified by the user, a ``best match'' search is
performed during string translation. For example, if a user specifies
@@ -177,7 +199,7 @@ then the parent of the current namespace, and so on until
the global namespace is reached. This allows child namespaces
to "inherit" messages from their parent namespace.
.PP
-For example, executing the code
+For example, executing (in the ``en'' locale) the code
.CS
mcset en m1 ":: message1"
mcset en m2 ":: message2"
@@ -214,10 +236,15 @@ es.msg -- spanish
en_UK.msg -- UK English
.CE
.IP [3]
-The file contains a series of calls to mcset, setting the
-necessary translation strings for the language. For example:
+The file contains a series of calls to \fBmcset\fR and
+\fBmcmset\fR, setting the necessary translation strings
+for the language, likely enclosed in a \fBnamespace eval\fR
+so that all source strings are tied to the namespace of
+the package. For example, a short \fBes.msg\fR might contain:
.CS
-::msgcat::mcset es "Free Beer!" "Cerveza Gracias!"
+namespace eval ::mypackage {
+ ::msgcat::mcset es "Free Beer!" "Cerveza Gracias!"
+}
.CE
.SH "RECOMMENDED MESSAGE SETUP FOR PACKAGES"