[kepler-dev] ptolemy internationalization

[Christopher Brooks]

On 7/29/10 3:12 PM, ben leinfelder wrote:
> Hi Christopher -
> I've been experimenting with internationalization in Kepler's new ConfigurationManager with great success. The menu bars, tabs and buttons have all been quite straightforward.
> I'm now looking at the ptolemy-based parts of the system and wondering what kinds of plans (if any) there are for refactoring some of that. I know it's not a small undertaking, but we have some support and momentum from collaborators at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (whom I'll be visiting in October) so it could be a good time to make a few first passes at it.
>
> I'm sure you're pretty aware of the difficulties, but here's an example of one kind of dialog challenge:
> In
> 	ptolemy.actor.gui.EditParametersDialog
> there is code like this:
> 	if (buttonPressed().equals("Add")) {
> 		......
> 	] else { .....
> where the button's label is closely tied to what happens when they are clicked.
>
> I suppose the quickest and easiest thing to do is to ensure that whatever code creates the buttons with that label looks up the label from the same place that this processing code looks it up from. In other places where we are not restricted by JOptionPane dialogs and such, I'd opt for referencing the actual button objects and actions directly rather than via their labels or names - a more agnostic approach.
> Is there currently an i18n-compatible configuration mechanism in use anywhere in ptolemy? It's been a while since I've explored the depths of the source tree - any hints would be welcome!
>
> Thanks,
> -ben

-Hi Ben,
[Resending because of a mail snafu at the airport]

The Ptolemy project has no specific plans for internationalization.
Basically, we (at Berkeley) would need a funding source to proceed.
There is no i18n-compatible configuration mechanism in Ptolemy, though I
would
welcome a standards-based implementation.

There was a discussion about this in 9/09, start with
http://mercury.nceas.ucsb.edu/kepler/pipermail/kepler-users/2009-September/001696.html
and follow the thread.

My position is at:
http://mercury.nceas.ucsb.edu/kepler/pipermail/kepler-users/2009-September/001704.html

Basically, I would welcome internationalization changes to Ptolemy
that uses the Java I18n standard.  The code would need to follow the
Ptolemy
coding style.  There is quite a bit of work, but if someone laid the
ground
work, it might be possible to split up the work and have a number of
people
do it.

Only the subset of Ptolemy for Kepler need be internationalized.

It might be faster to start over with Eclipse RCP and use the
internationalization
that is presumably available.

_Christopher
-
Christopher Brooks, PMP                       University of California
CHESS Executive Director                      US Mail: 337 Cory Hall
Programmer/Analyst CHESS/Ptolemy/Trust        Berkeley, CA 94720-1774
ph: 510.643.9841 fax:510.642.2718	      (Office: 545Q Cory)
home: (F-Tu) 707.665.0131 cell: 707.332.0670