[bug #17269] localized headers in .mc/history
Follow-up Comment #3, bug #17269 (project mc): I looked at that problem and the solution is pretty easy. Still I'd like to discuss the issue with anyone interested so we can find the best way to solve the problem. Most of the problematic entries are created by an invocation of the function nice_cd() located in src/cmd.c . Its first argument is a string to be used as the heading of the dialog. The same string is also used to form the name of the section in the history file where entries fed to the input field of the dialog will be stored. A typical call to nice_cd() looks like this: nice_cd (_(Title string), ...) So as you can see nice_cd() is passed a translated string - this is why a translated section name is written to the history file. However this is unnecessary since later the title string is translated one more time when quick_dialog() is invoked to show the dialog. So, one way to solve the problem is to change nice_cd() invocations like this: nice_cd (N_(Title string), ...) However, this may not be the best solution since the programmer must know that it should call nice_cd () with N_() instead of _(). So, maybe a better way to solve the problem would be to add a new argument to nice_cd() which will hold the history section name. Any thoughts ? ___ Reply to this item at: http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?17269 ___ Message sent via/by Savannah http://savannah.gnu.org/ ___ Mc-devel mailing list http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel
[bug #17269] localized headers in .mc/history
Follow-up Comment #4, bug #17269 (project mc): Localizing an already localized string definitely shows wrong design. Theoretically it can lead to false strings appearing on the screen (if the first translated string happens to be the same as an English string used somewhere else in mc). It's quite unlikely for this bug to ever occur, but still it's better to avoid it by good design. It'd be bad if the person first hitting this bug would have to choose different wording or if he had to fix mc in this respect. (Theoretically :-)) each function has a documented interface of what the meaning of its arguments are, and this documentation should state for all strings whether they are localized or not. You say: this may not be the best solution since the programmer must know that it should call nice_cd () with N_() instead of _(). I think this approach is wrong. Every programmer wishing to use an already implemented function should first check the docs or the comments in the code to see what this function expects and then use it accordingly. If there's no docs stating whether the argument to nice_cd should be localized or not then _this_ is a bug in mc. If there are docs, however, then there's nothing you can do against wrong usage and it's not your problem anymore. (BTW it starts resembling the usually-misunderstood Hungarian notation by Simonyi, see: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html for the right explanation. If strings are always stored in variables whose name begins with a prefix stating whether it's already localized, to be localized, or non-translateable, then these kinds of bugs are less likely to occur.) About your first suggestion: it avoids translating an already translated string, hence it should really be done. About your second suggestion: it could make the config file look the same even if for some reason the English UI string is modified. Hence it is a nice move, too. So, I recommend making both changes :-) ___ Reply to this item at: http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?17269 ___ Message sent via/by Savannah http://savannah.gnu.org/ ___ Mc-devel mailing list http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel
[bug #17269] localized headers in .mc/history
Follow-up Comment #5, bug #17269 (project mc): My last comment may be slightly misleading. To clarify: nice_cd() and others use fg_input_dialog_help() which takes care of displaying the input dialog and derives history file section names from the input dialog heading. ___ Reply to this item at: http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?17269 ___ Message sent via/by Savannah http://savannah.gnu.org/ ___ Mc-devel mailing list http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel
[bug #17269] localized headers in .mc/history
Follow-up Comment #6, bug #17269 (project mc): I think I'll proceed as following: 1) Currently fg_input_dialog_help() assumes that it is passed translated strings. I won't change that because some of the callers pass as an argument a string which is the result of sprintf() on translated template string. However, I'll change fg_input_dialog_help() to prevent the translation of the already translated strings. Additionally I'll add comments to indicate that fg_input_dialog_help() and any wrappers must take translated strings. 2) Next I'll change fg_input_dialog_help() to take a new argument - the history section name. Then I will adjust all callers. ___ Reply to this item at: http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?17269 ___ Message sent via/by Savannah http://savannah.gnu.org/ ___ Mc-devel mailing list http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel
