Internationalization

This article is about how to realize and use localized C:B. All the works have been done under Windows XP SP2.

Get the English POT file

The english POT file url is:

https://developer.berlios.de/patch/?func=detailpatch&patch_id=822&group_id=5358

I will update this file periodically. Of course, you can use the tool which I have created (see belown) to generate the POT file.

The content of the tool which is named as intl.bat is below:

rem ======= Begin of intl.bat =======

@echo off
wxrc src\resources\*.xrc -g -o  src\src-xrc.cpp
wxrc sdk\resources\*.xrc -g -o  sdk\sdk-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\astyle\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\astyle\astyle-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\classwizard\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\classwizard\classwizard-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\codecompletion\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\codecompletion\codecompletion-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\compilergcc\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\compilergcc\compilergcc-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\debuggergdb\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\debuggergdb\debuggergdb-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\defaultmimehandler\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\defaultmimehandler\defaultmimehandler-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\pluginwizard\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\pluginwizard\pluginwizard-xrc.cpp
wxrc plugins\todo\resources\*.xrc -g -o  plugins\todo\todo-xrc.cpp 

if not exist po md po

xgettext -C -n -k_ -o po\codeblocks.pot src\*.cpp src\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot src\wxAUI\*.cpp src\wxAUI\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\*.cpp sdk\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\as\bindings\*.cpp sdk\as\bindings\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\propgrid\src\propgrid\*.cpp sdk\propgrid\include\wx\propgrid\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\wxFlatNotebook\*.cpp
rem xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\as\include\*.h
rem xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\as\source\*.cpp sdk\as\source\*.h
rem xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot sdk\wxscintilla\*.cpp sdk\wxscintilla\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\codecompletion\*.cpp plugins\codecompletion\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\codecompletion\parser\*.cpp plugins\codecompletion\parser\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\astyle\*.cpp plugins\astyle\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\astyle\astyle\*.cpp plugins\astyle\astyle\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\classwizard\*.cpp plugins\classwizard\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\codecompletion\*.cpp plugins\codecompletion\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\compilergcc\*.cpp plugins\compilergcc\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\debuggergdb\*.cpp plugins\debuggergdb\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\defaultmimehandler\*.cpp plugins\defaultmimehandler\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\pluginwizard\*.cpp plugins\pluginwizard\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\todo\*.cpp plugins\todo\*.h
xgettext -C -n -k_ -j -o po\codeblocks.pot plugins\xpmanifest\*.cpp plugins\xpmanifest\*.h
pause

rem ======= End of intl.bat =======

The translation tool

Usually, we use the poEdit tool which can be downloaded here.

Translating in poEdit

Rename codeblocks.pot into codeblocks.po. Use poEdit to open the file codeblocks.po. Change a few settings like:

[File]->[Preferences]->[Personalize]

[Catalog]->[Settings]->[Project info]->[Team/email/Language/Charset]

If Code::Blocks is compiled with Unicode, the charset should be set to utf-8; If Code::Blocks is compiled with ANSI, the charset should be set to your own language charset like gb2312, koi8-r etc.

After these settings are done, you can start translating. Don't be fooled, it's a hard work! During the process, of course, you can use your translation at any time.

Create and use the .mo file

Pressing Ctrl+S in poEdit, you can get a *.mo file like codeblocks.mo which is what we need. To use codeblocks.mo, we just place it into C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks or C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\share\CodeBlocks\locale\<lang>\LC_MESSAGES or C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\share\CodeBlocks\locale\<lang>. My language is Chinese and I have installed C::B into E:\, so I place codeblocks.mo into E:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\share\CodeBlocks\locale\zh_CN.

If you want to use codeblocks.mo under Linux or Unix, you just place it into /usr/X11R6/share/locale/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES/. For example, I put it into /usr/X11R6/share/locale/zh_CN/LC_MESSAGES/ under FreeBSD.

Details about internationalization using wxWidgets can be found in the wxWidgets docs.

Let Code::Blocks support your language

If you want Code::Blocks to support your language, you must modify the file \codeblocks\src\src\appglobals.cpp. In it, you can search for the word 'Chinese' to see the example. There are two vars about it:

   const wxString langs[LANGUAGES_SIZE]
   const int locales[LANGUAGES_SIZE]

Troubleshooting

If you have any questions, you can send me a mail: zxpmyth at yahoo.com.cn.