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GameBase Translation Support

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Trismagia
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GameBase Translation Support

Sat May 04, 2019 7:59 pm

Hi,

I started to work in a full translation of GameBase frontend. However, there are missing keys in the ini files. Obviously, some controls (i. e. buttons or checkboxes) couldn't be translated. Any support to make it work?

Thanks.
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.mad.
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Sun May 05, 2019 9:36 am

Hi,

Download the source code from here...
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gameba ... base/v1.3/

Most of the menu texts are in the .FRM files...
"frmMain.frm"
if you edit that file (any text editor), being careful not to translate any string names.
and focus only on the text in quotes. Like this...

Caption = "&Verify Available Files..."

i will recompile it for you.

--
For check boxes, your translation would be limited to the actual box size/place holder.
so abbreviations might need to be used in some instances.
You could reduce the font size to gain a little extra space to avoid rewriting and resizing lots of code.

This code should be edited within Visual Basic 6.
so you can easily "see" the text font size and check boxes, and know your translation fits.

VB6 only works in 32bit Windows (XP).
so if you have x64 Win7 or Win10, you are out of luck. Unless you can install a virtual box with a Win XP ISO.
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Trismagia
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Sun May 05, 2019 12:56 pm

.mad.

I got the source code of GameBase v1.3 and seen some FRM files. Thank you very much for offering your help to compile the source code and the information provided. I'm kind of lost in that.

For now, I'm adjusting the translation to the size of any element (as far as I've seen ... buttons, checkboxes) without the need to modify their dimensions. Only in a particular case have I decided to replace the word "Find" with the symbol "?". In the rest I use synonyms and for now it is going well.

Anyway, I find the information useful in case later I am encouraged to play a bit with VB6.

So is not there a way to get the corresponding keys associated with the controls? I mean no need to compile.
My idea is to simply edit files that are then copied directly to the respective directories.
A compiled version with the files involved in the translation, would suppose to install the application from scratch and some files would be overwritten. Do not? (i.e. the mdb file, which I also intend to translate)

I don't know if I'm in the right direction, what do you think?
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Sun May 05, 2019 6:29 pm

So is not there a way to get the corresponding keys associated with the controls? I mean no need to compile.
My idea is to simply edit files that are then copied directly to the respective directories.
A compiled version with the files involved in the translation, would suppose to install the application from scratch and some files would be overwritten. Do not? (i.e. the mdb file, which I also intend to translate)
When the edited /translated code is compiled, it will create a new "gamebase.exe" file.
you can then just rename it to whatever you like.
e.g.
gamebase_IT.exe - Italian version
gamebase_ES.exe - Spanish version
gamebase_DE.exe - German version

then just copy and run it from your gamebase folder, without reinstalling or overwriting anything.

some accented characters might not display correctly, so try to stick with uniform A-Z.
Also Russian and Asian fonts are not supported.

There's nothing you should be editing and translating in the MDB file. :shock:
you will just break it.
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Trismagia
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Sun May 05, 2019 6:51 pm

Ok, let's see if I understand.

So should I forget to edit the ini files and start from scratch with the frm files?

Or rather...

Continue the work done with the ini files and edit the frm files when there is no option with the ini files?

I already did a test translating some fields of the database and there seems to be no problems.
Even so, I will take your notice into account.

Thanks again.
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Mon May 06, 2019 9:23 am

Trismagia wrote:
Sun May 05, 2019 6:51 pm
So should I forget to edit the ini files and start from scratch with the frm files?
It all depends how complete you want your translation to be.
As you know, quite a few options and tab names can be edited from the text.ini.
These are shown in the code with GetINIMessage("database" like this...

ga_strYesNoUnknownLookupTable(0) = g_xobjFunc.GetINIMessage("Database", "Field_No", "No")
ga_strYesNoUnknownLookupTable(1) = g_xobjFunc.GetINIMessage("Database", "Field_Yes", "Yes")

so you could just edit the separate text.ini for all those options.

But if you you edit the FRM file code...

ga_strYesNoUnknownLookupTable(0) = g_xobjFunc.GetINIMessage("Database", "Field_No", "Non")
ga_strYesNoUnknownLookupTable(1) = g_xobjFunc.GetINIMessage("Database", "Field_Yes", "Oui")

you would not need the edited text.ini file.
and your translation text would be the default settings.

PLEASE NOTE!
All the "text.ini" translation would be lost, if the GameBase creator used an edited text.ini.
to show custom fields for their own Databases.
I do this quite a lot. :wink:
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Trismagia
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Mon May 06, 2019 11:12 am

It seems that I have found the solution to the problem.
I was analyzing the frm file for the Game Selector and it seems that there is missing source code.

As I said, it was not possible to translate certain elements. Specifically, in the Game Selector window. ("Choose GEMUS Script Parameters" checkbox and the "Change" button)
It seems that these elements were not getting the data from the "key = value" pairs expected to be in the GBtext.ini file. So I added some lines to the source code of the frm file and then build the gamebase.exe file.

I did a test adding a few lines and now it is possible to translate the elements directly in the ini file. Which is close to the solution I was looking for.

However, it has been inevitable to modify the gamebase.exe file and that was something I wanted to avoid.

Finally, regarding your warning about losing the translation in the text.ini file ... I use Access to modify the mdb file. In case of problems I'll let the file untouched.
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Mon May 06, 2019 1:55 pm

Trismagia wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 11:12 am
However, it has been inevitable to modify the gamebase.exe file and that was something I wanted to avoid.
Yes, as the code stands.
It will require a new Gamebase.exe, with almost every NEW feature you want to add.

If you are getting to grips with the code???
you could try and make a translation option.
where you could select and change the language from the GameBase menu.
then i am sure, more people would adopt your edited version.
And maybe even help and add support for more languages. :wink:
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Trismagia
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Re: GameBase Translation Support

Mon May 06, 2019 3:16 pm

Well, I'm a bit far from knowing how to implement that feature in GameBase but who knows ... maybe someday.

Thanks again!

:D :D :D

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