Mock translating software applications at runtime

• US 20040122652A1
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumhyr, David Bruce, Ross, Joseph C., Andrews, James Neal
• Granted Patent: US 7,509,251 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

A method, computer program product, and data processing system for mock-translating the text messages used in a software application at runtime is disclosed. A text message in a first human language are read from a resource bundle at runtime. A textual representation of the text message having features of a second human language is then derived from the original text message and displayed in the application in place of the original text message. This textual representation may contain such features of the second human language as the character set and average length of words. The displayed textual representation can then be used to determine whether modifications to the application code need be made in order to support the second human language.

Claims

1. A data-processing system-based method comprising:

reading translatable text in a first human language from a resource bundle;

dynamically replacing the translatable text with a textual representation of the translatable text that contains a least one feature of a second human language; and

displaying the textual representation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one feature of the second human language includes a predicted text length.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one feature of the second human language includes a character set associated with the second human language.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the character set is a multiple-byte character set.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the textual representation contains characters from the character set associated with the second human language that are not associated with the first human language.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the textual representation contains text in the first human language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the translatable text is replaced with the textual representation in response to a user input event.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource bundle is a descendent class of a named resource bundle class having a name, and wherein replacing the translatable text with the textual representation is performed by executing code in a mock-translating resource bundle class having the name of the named resource bundle class.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the mock-translating resource bundle class shares a name with a default resource bundle class, the method further comprising:

loading, with a class loader, a mock-translating resource bundle class rather than the default resource bundle class as a parent class for the resource bundle.

10. A computer program product in a computer-readable medium comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform acts including:

reading translatable text in a first human language from a resource bundle;

dynamically replacing the translatable text with a textual representation of the translatable text that contains a least one feature of a second human language; and

displaying the textual representation.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the at least one feature of the second human language includes a predicted text length.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the at least one feature of the second human language includes a character set associated with the second human language.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the character set is a multiple-byte character set.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the textual representation contains characters from the character set associated with the second human language that are not associated with the first human language.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the textual representation contains text in the first human language.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the translatable text is replaced with the textual representation in response to a user input event.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the resource bundle is a descendent class of a named resource bundle class having a name, and wherein replacing the translatable text with the textual representation is performed by executing code in a mock-translating resource bundle class having the name of the named resource bundle class.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the mock-translating resource bundle class shares a name with a default resource bundle class, the method further comprising:

loading, with a class loader, a mock-translating resource bundle class rather than the default resource bundle class as a parent class for the resource bundle.

19. A data-processing system-based data processing system comprising:

means for reading translatable text in a first human language from a resource bundle;

means for dynamically replacing the translatable text with a textual representation of the translatable text that contains a least one feature of a second human language; and

means for displaying the textual representation.

20. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the at least one feature of the second human language includes a predicted text length.

21. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the at least one feature of the second human language includes a character set associated with the second human language.

22. The data processing system of claim 21, wherein the character set is a multiple-byte character set.

23. The data processing system of claim 21, wherein the textual representation contains characters from the character set associated with the second human language that are not associated with the first human language.

24. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the textual representation contains text in the first human language.

25. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the translatable text is replaced with the textual representation in response to a user input event.

26. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the resource bundle is a descendent class of a named resource bundle class having a name, and wherein replacing the translatable text with the textual representation is performed by executing code in a mock-translating resource bundle class having the name of the named resource bundle class.

27. The data processing system of claim 26, wherein the mock-translating resource bundle class shares a name with a default resource bundle class, the method further comprising:

loading, with a class loader, a mock-translating resource bundle class rather than the default resource bundle class as a parent class for the resource bundle.