International Business Machines Corporation

Jerald Lee Monson

Joseph C Ross

Elizabeth Carol Meade

Keiichi Yamamoto

Francis Xavier Rojas

A mock translation method and system is provided which converts base-language data and performs a mock translation on it to produce internationalization test data. The mock translation data is created by inserting additional characters, such as a tilde (&tilde;) into each of the text strings from the user interface of a software program. The additional characters are used as a placeholder to accommodate the additional space needed for later translating the text into a different language. In addition, field boundary characters, such as brackets, are used to designate the beginning and end of the text with the placeholders. This data is stored in localization files and displayed in a software application in place of the English or foreign-language text. By visually inspecting each screen, the programmer or proofreader is able to easily recognize many internationalization errors, without requiring the ability to read any foreign language. These errors include truncation, alignment, or other formatting errors, and programming errors such as text that is hard-coded, text missing from localization files, localization files missing from the program build, and text composed of more than one translated message.

Mock translation method, system, and program to test software translatability

A mock translation system, method, and program is provided which converts single-byte base-language data and performs a mock translation on it to produce internationalization test data, which incorporates double-byte expansion characters having a second byte as &ldquo;5C&rdquo;, such as a double wide dash character. These expansion characters are used as a placeholder to accommodate the additional space needed for later translating the text into a different language. In addition, field boundary characters, such as brackets, are used to designate the beginning and end of the text with the placeholders. This data is stored in localization files and displayed in a software application in place of the English or foreign-language text. By visually inspecting each screen, the programmer or proofreader is able to easily recognize many internationalization errors, without requiring the ability to read any foreign language. These errors include truncation, alignment, or other formatting errors, and programming errors such as text that is hard-coded, localization files missing from the program build, text missing from localization files, and text composed of more than one translated message. Double-byte processing errors are also made evident if a back slash having a &ldquo;5C&rdquo; single-byte code appears in the displayed text in place of a double-wide dash character.

Mock translation system, method, and program using multi-byte placeholder characters to test translatability of software that will display multi-byte languages

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Jerald Lee Monson