Translation viewer for project documentation and editing

• US 7,913,228 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Stanek, Christopher E., Curry, David R., Malaspina, Fabio, Ericsson, Matthew R., Bliss, Ronald E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHIH CHING
• Application Number:
  US11/537,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20080098356A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,635 Days
• Field of Search: 717/106, 717/123, 704/2, 704/8, 704/7, 707/999, 715/265
• US Class Current: 717/123
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

A software documentation system is provided. This includes a selection component that detects a project component within a context of a current language. A translation viewer displays alternative language documentation associated with the detected project component, where the translation viewer can be associated with an editor that is linked to the context of the current language. Other aspects include providing components to switch from a current language to an alternative language within the software documentation or development system.

Claims

1. A software documentation system, comprising:

at least one processor that executes the following computer executable components stored on at least one non-transitory computer readable medium;

a selection component that detects a project component within a context of a current language, the detected project component includes at least one documentation object associated with a software development tool in the software documentation system;

a translation viewer provides an automated interface that displays alternative language documentation associated with the detected project component during editing of the at least one documentation object associated with the detected project component in the current language, when the alternative language documentation corresponding to the at least one documentation object exists in a storage medium operatively coupled to the software development tool; and

an editor associated with the translation viewer that is linked to the context of the current language, the editor enables modification of the at least one documentation object associated with the detected project component,

wherein the translation viewer provides an alert that is indicative of an existence of the alternative language documentation and provides a reminder that the alternative language documentation is to be adjusted in view of changes made to the at least one documentation object via the editor.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the automated interface appears dynamically near or above the editor and unobtrusively depicts the alternative language documentation in a faint form.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component to switch from a current language to an alternative language.

4. The system of claim 1, the selection component is linked to a component that triggers activation of the translation viewer.

5. The system of claim 1, the selection component causes the project component to trigger a display of alternative language documentation.

6. The system of claim 5, the selection component triggers a change from an alpha-blended display to an opaque display of alternative language documentation.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one documentation object includes one or more comments associated with at least one of a program object, program instruction, specification, design guidelines algorithm, visual object, sound objects ladder logic element, Sequential Function Chart element, Function Block Diagram, or a high level programming language object.

8. The system of claim 1, the editor is associated with ladder logic, Sequential Function Chart element, Function Block Diagram, tag editors, properties editors, or structured text editors.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising an import and export utility to facilitate creation of the alternative language documentation based on one or more comments, in a first language, assigned to the project component.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an automatic language translator to facilitate creation of the alternative language documentation from one or more comments, in a first language, supplied to the project component.

11. The system of claim 1, the translation viewer includes a language selection box that enables selection of alternative languages.

12. The system of claim 11, the translation viewer includes a paste function that enables copying of the alternative language documentation into an edit control window of an editor that is employed to modify the documentation in the current language.

13. The system of claim 11, the translation viewer is associated with a help function to provide operating instructions to a user.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising at least one configuration menu to adjust display characteristics of the translation viewer.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a configuration switch to disable or enable the translation viewer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the configuration menu provides at least one of display adjustments, display justifications, grid adjustments, drag adjustments, fading options, font adjustments, or color adjustments associated with the translation viewer.

17. The system of claim 15, the configuration menu is applied to at least one of an application editor, a tag editor, a ladder editor, a sequential function chart editor, a function block editor, or a structured text editor.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a properties component that adjusts how the translation viewer is displayed for different application contexts.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component to detect whether an alternative language associated with the project component is available.

20. A method for multi-lingual project documentation and editing comprising:

detecting a project, within a context of a current language, that includes at least one documentation object associated with a software development tool;

editing at least one documentation object associated with the detected project in the current language; and

presenting an automated interface that displays alternative language documentation associated with the detected project during editing of the at least one documentation object associated with the detected project in the current language on a user interface, when the alternative language documentation corresponding to the at least one documentation object exists in a storage medium operatively coupled to the software development tool,

wherein the presenting includes providing an alert that is indicative of an existence of the alternative language documentation and providing a reminder indicating that the alternative language documentation is to be adjusted in view the editing of the documentation.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising, specifying whether or not the alternative language documentation exists for the at least one documentation object.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing at least one of the at least one documentation object associated with the detected project in the current language or the alternative language documentation.

23. The method of claim 20,further comprising, triggering a change from an alpha-blended display to an opaque display of the alternative language documentation.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising enabling or disabling a display of the alternative language documentation.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising switching from the current language to an alternative language.

26. The method of claim 20, further comprising facilitating language translations to generate the alternative language documentation.

27. A method to generate software documentation, comprising:

associating a current language with an editor associated with a software development tool;

enabling the editor to modify documentation associated with the current language;

obtaining a translation of the documentation associated with the current language in an alternative language from a storage medium, when the editor is enabled; and

displaying, in response to an edit initiated to the documentation associated with the current language, the translation in the alternative language, via an automated interface, near or above an edit window of the editor,

wherein the displaying includes presenting an alert that is indicative of an existence of the translation in the alternative language and presenting a reminder indicating that the translation in the alternative language is to be modified in view of a modification of the documentation associated with the current language via the editor.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising generating translations in one or more alternative languages for a documentation system.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising switching between the one or more alternative languages.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising switching between a faint display of text and a bold display of text upon a pointer hovering over the translation in the alternative language.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the displaying includes dynamically displaying an automated interface that unobtrusively depicts the translation in the alternative language in a faint form.

32. The method of claim 27, further comprising altering a translation display in view of a documentation context.

33. A development system, comprising:

means for editing a documentation object in a software development tool according to a current language context by employing an edit window; and

means for presenting a translation of the documentation object in an alternative language received from a storage medium, near or above the edit window, in response to an initiation of modification of the documentation object in a current language by the means for editing,

wherein the means for presenting provides an alert indicative of an existence of the translation of the documentation object and provides a reminder indicating that the translation of the documentation object is to be updated in view of a change made to the documentation object via the means for editing.

34. The development system of claim 33, further comprising means for switching between a current language context and an alternative language context.