diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/msgcat.n')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/msgcat.n | 93 |
1 files changed, 63 insertions, 30 deletions
diff --git a/doc/msgcat.n b/doc/msgcat.n index e6e08b5..00141ad 100644 --- a/doc/msgcat.n +++ b/doc/msgcat.n @@ -5,15 +5,15 @@ '\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES. '\" .so man.macros -.TH "msgcat" n 1.3 msgcat "Tcl Bundled Packages" +.TH "msgcat" n 1.4 msgcat "Tcl Bundled Packages" .BS '\" Note: do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below! .SH NAME msgcat \- Tcl message catalog .SH SYNOPSIS -\fBpackage require Tcl 8.2\fR +\fBpackage require Tcl 8.5\fR .sp -\fBpackage require msgcat 1.3.4\fR +\fBpackage require msgcat 1.4.2\fR .sp \fB::msgcat::mc \fIsrc-string\fR ?\fIarg arg ...\fR? .sp @@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ msgcat \- Tcl message catalog .sp \fB::msgcat::mcunknown \fIlocale src-string\fR .BE - .SH DESCRIPTION .PP The \fBmsgcat\fR package provides a set of functions that can be used to manage multi-lingual user interfaces. -Text strings are defined in a ``message catalog'' which -is independent from the application, and +Text strings are defined in a +.QW "message catalog" +which is independent from the application, and which can be edited or localized without modifying the application source code. New languages or locales are provided by adding a new file to @@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ Returns a translation of \fIsrc-string\fR according to the user's current locale. If additional arguments past \fIsrc-string\fR are given, the \fBformat\fR command is used to substitute the additional arguments in the translation of \fIsrc-string\fR. +.RS .PP \fB::msgcat::mc\fR will search the messages defined in the current namespace for a translation of \fIsrc-string\fR; if @@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ application can pass the English string through \fB::msgcat::mc\fR and use the result. If an application is written for a single language in this fashion, then it is easy to add support for additional languages later simply by defining new message catalog entries. +.RE .TP \fB::msgcat::mcmax ?\fIsrc-string src-string ...\fR? Given several source strings, \fB::msgcat::mcmax\fR returns the length @@ -91,13 +93,16 @@ preference. The list is derived from the current locale set in msgcat by \fB::msgcat::mclocale\fR, and cannot be set independently. For example, if the current locale is en_US_funky, then \fB::msgcat::mcpreferences\fR -returns \fB{en_US_funky en_US en}\fR. +.VS 1.4 +returns \fB{en_US_funky en_US en {}}\fR. +.VE 1.4 .TP \fB::msgcat::mcload \fIdirname\fR Searches the specified directory for files that match the language specifications returned by \fB::msgcat::mcpreferences\fR -(note that these are all lowercase), extended by the file -extension ``.msg''. Each matching file is +(note that these are all lowercase), extended by the file extension +.QW .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 Unicode characters may be present in the message file either directly in their UTF-8 @@ -137,10 +142,15 @@ 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 +system-specific code, each separated by +.QW _ . +The country and language codes are specified in standards ISO-639 and ISO-3166. -For example, the locale ``en'' specifies English and ``en_US'' specifies -U.S. English. +For example, the locale +.QW en +specifies English and +.QW en_US +specifies U.S. English. .PP When the msgcat package is first loaded, the locale is initialized according to the user's environment. The variables \fBenv(LC_ALL)\fR, @@ -159,14 +169,25 @@ 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''. +locale of +.QW 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 -en_GB_Funky, the locales ``en_GB_Funky'', ``en_GB'', and ``en'' are -searched in order until a matching translation string is found. If no -translation string is available, then \fB::msgcat::mcunknown\fR is -called. +When a locale is specified by the user, a +.QW "best match" +search is performed during string translation. For example, if a user +specifies +.VS 1.4 +en_GB_Funky, the locales +.QW en_GB_Funky , +.QW en_GB , +.QW en +and +.MT +(the empty string) +.VE 1.4 +are searched in order until a matching translation +string is found. If no translation string is available, then +\fB::msgcat::mcunknown\fR is called. .SH "NAMESPACES AND MESSAGE CATALOGS" .PP Strings stored in the message catalog are stored relative @@ -194,10 +215,13 @@ hello from ::foo When searching for a translation of a message, the message catalog will search first the current namespace, 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. +the global namespace is reached. This allows child namespaces to +.QW inherit +messages from their parent namespace. .PP -For example, executing (in the ``en'' locale) the code +For example, executing (in the +.QW en +locale) the code .CS \fB::msgcat::mcset\fR en m1 ":: message1" \fB::msgcat::mcset\fR en m2 ":: message2" @@ -227,12 +251,23 @@ to the following conditions: .IP [1] All message files for a package are in the same directory. .IP [2] -The message file name is a msgcat locale specifier (all lowercase) -followed by ``.msg''. For example: +The message file name is a msgcat locale specifier (all lowercase) followed by +.QW .msg . +For example: .CS -es.msg -- spanish -en_gb.msg -- United Kingdom English +es.msg \(em spanish +en_gb.msg \(em United Kingdom English .CE +.VS 1.4 +\fIException:\fR The message file for the root locale +.MT +is called +.QW \fBROOT.msg\fR . +This exception is made so as not to +cause peculiar behavior, such as marking the message file as +.QW hidden +on Unix file systems. +.VE 1.4 .IP [3] The file contains a series of calls to \fBmcset\fR and \fBmcmset\fR, setting the necessary translation strings @@ -276,8 +311,8 @@ format "In location %s we produced %d units" $city $num This can be handled by using the positional parameters: .CS -format "We produced %1\\$d units in location %2\\$s" $num $city -format "In location %2\\$s we produced %1\\$d units" $num $city +format "We produced %1\e$d units in location %2\e$s" $num $city +format "In location %2\e$s we produced %1\e$d units" $num $city .CE .PP Similarly, positional parameters can be used with \fBscan\fR to @@ -285,9 +320,7 @@ extract values from internationalized strings. .SH CREDITS .PP The message catalog code was developed by Mark Harrison. - .SH "SEE ALSO" format(n), scan(n), namespace(n), package(n) - .SH KEYWORDS internationalization, i18n, localization, l10n, message, text, translation |