Resource File Localization

• US 20110119676A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gallant, Jonathan B.
• Application Number:
  US12/620,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20110119676A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

A system and method for localizing an application resource file. An application localizer may receive an application resource file containing text strings to be localized. The application localizer extracts each text string and sends it to a remote automated translation service, receiving a corresponding localized text string. The localizer writes each of the localized text strings to generate a localized application resource file. Configuration specifications may specify target locales, a format of the application resource file, or a format of application resource file names.

Claims

1. A computer-based method of localizing a computer application, comprising:

a) receiving a source application resource file associated with the computer application, the application resource file containing a plurality of text strings for presentation by the computer application;

b) receiving specifications of one or more target locales;

c) extracting, from the source application resource file, the plurality of text strings based on a format of the source application resource file;

d) sending each of the plurality of text strings to a remote automated translation service;

e) receiving, from the remote translation service, a plurality of localized strings corresponding to the plurality of text strings; and

f) generating a localized application resource file containing the localized strings.

2. The computer-based method of claim 1, further comprising:

a) receiving a specification of the format of the source application resource file; and

b) receiving a file name format specification;

wherein generating the localized application resource file is based on the file name format specification.

3. The computer-based method of claim 1, sending each text string to a remote automated translation service comprises sending the text string and a specification of at least one target locale to a Web service.

4. The computer-based method of claim 1, wherein the remote translation service is a Web service.

5. The computer-based method of claim 1, wherein the application resource file employs the structure of a .resx file, as specified for the .NET environment.

6. The computer-based method of claim 1, the remote translation service comprising a dictionary of trademarks or product names to facilitate localizing each text string.

7. The computer-based method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a file name format specification, generating the localized application resource file based on the file name format specification, and wherein the remote translation service is a Web service.

8. The computer-based method of claim 1, further comprising compiling the localized application resource file to generate a binary resource file.

9. A computer-based system for localizing a computer application, the system comprising:

a) a parser that identifies text strings in a source application resource file associated with the computer application, the application resource file containing a plurality of text strings for presentation by the computer application;

b) an application localizer configured to perform actions including;

i) receiving the source application resource file;

ii) receiving specifications of one or more target locales;

iii) employing the parser to extract, from the source application resource file, the plurality of text strings; and

iv) for each of the plurality of text strings, sending the text string to a remote automated translation service, receiving a localized text string from the remote automated translation service, and inserting the localized text string into a target localized application resource file.

10. The computer-based system of claim 9, the actions further comprising compiling the localized application resource file to generate a binary resource file.

11. The computer-based system of claim 9, the parser configured to receive a specification of the source application resource file format and employ the source application resource file format to identify each of the plurality of text strings.

12. The computer-based system of claim 9, the parser configured to parse a .resx file as specified for the .NET environment and identify each of the plurality of text strings.

13. The computer-based system of claim 9, the actions further comprising employing the parser to generate the target localized application resource file by inserting each localized text string into the target application resource file.

14. The computer-based system of claim 9, the actions further comprising receiving a file name format specification and generating the target localized application resource file based on the file name format specification.

15. The computer-based system of claim 9, the one or more target locales comprising a first target locale and a second target locale, further comprising employing the remote automated translation service to localize each text string to the first target locale and the second target locale.

16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer program instructions for automatically localizing a computer application having an associated application resource file, the program instructions executable by a processor to perform actions including:

a) receiving a source application resource file associated with the computer application, the application resource file containing a plurality of text strings for presentation by the computer application;

b) receiving specifications of one or more target locales;

c) parsing the source application resource file to extract each of the plurality of text strings based on a format of the source application resource file;

d) sending each of the plurality of text strings to an automated Web translation service;

e) receiving, from the Web translation service, a plurality of localized strings corresponding to the plurality of text strings; and

f) generating a localized application resource file containing the localized strings.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the source application resource file is a .resx file as specified for the .NET environment.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the actions further comprising:

a) receiving a specification of the format of the source application resource file; and

b) receiving a file name format specification;

c) generating the localized application resource file based on the file name format specification.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the actions further comprising compiling the localized application resource file to generate a binary resource file.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, sending each text string to the Web translation service comprises sending a specification of at least one target locale.