Re: parameterized translation strings; what is the solution?

["Jonathon Jongsma" <jonathon jongsma gmail com>]

On 5/27/07, Paul Elliott <pelliott io com> wrote:
> How are parameterized translation strings commonly handled?
>
> Suppose I need to create a string like:
>
> "file %1 failed to open", where %1 exists at runtime, but I need to
> create it in a way that can be internationalized.
>
> If I do something like this
>
> str = _("file ") + filename + _(" failed to open");
>
> The string to be translated is broken into pieces and the translators
> can't see what is going on. Besides different languages have different
> word order. You can't necessarily hack tranlated phrases from a
> different language together in the same way that you do in the native
> language. Some things need to be translated as a whole.
>
> Also there is UTF-8 and unicode.
>
> Bjarne Stroustrup properly points out that sprintf and format
> are not typesafe.
>
> So what is the solution?
>
> Gtkmm documentation recommends the compose library, but
> that seems to be included in almost no Linux distributions,
> so that can not be commonly used.
>
> What is the solution that is used everyday in the real world?
> --
> Paul Elliott                       1(512)837-1096
> pelliott io com                    PMB 181, 11900 Metric Blvd Suite J
> http://www.io.com/~pelliott/pme/   Austin TX 78758-3117
>
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Note that the compose library is (I believe) a header-only,
single-file library, so it would be quite easy to simply include it in
the source code of your project.  In any case, since it's a
header-only library, it would only be a build-time dependency, so
users wouldn't need it 'installed', so the distribution issue isn't as
big of a deal.  Otherwise, boost::format was mentioned and is also a
good choice.

--
jonner