Adding Arabic language in Installscript Project (IS2014)

[niks]

Hi All,

I am trying to add Arabic language in my Installscript project but not able to. Although I did succeed in adding the check box of Arabic(Saudi and UAE) under my Language tab under General Information still this is not translating the default messages of my installer.

Can somebody provide me with some ideas to incorporate this feature in my project. Also is there any way to translate strings that I have added to the selected language during installation?

Please suggest.

Thanks in advance.:)


Regards,
Niks

[DLee65]

Hello Niks,

I am not certain of the General tab, but you should be able to export your string table. If it is in English it should be something like Strings1033 where 1033 represents the languageID . Someone then creates a copy of this file and translates the strings in the desired language. The file should be Strings. You can then import the string file.

It is my understanding that things related to the UI, unless you have a custom dialog, should automatically integrate the correct language based upon your selections. I think you have to make sure to include the language selection dialog though unless you are creating separate releases one for each language ID.

[niks]

DLee65 wrote:
Hello Niks,

I am not certain of the General tab, but you should be able to export your string table. If it is in English it should be something like Strings1033 where 1033 represents the languageID . Someone then creates a copy of this file and translates the strings in the desired language. The file should be Strings. You can then import the string file.

It is my understanding that things related to the UI, unless you have a custom dialog, should automatically integrate the correct language based upon your selections. I think you have to make sure to include the language selection dialog though unless you are creating separate releases one for each language ID.

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your response.

I have added Arabic using "Add New Language" feature of Installshield. I am able to see Arabic language option in my language selection tab now. I have also added language selection dialog at the starting of my installer but when selected Arabic, my strings are not getting converted to Arabic.

Now talking about exporting my English String 1033 and then getting it translated and then importing back.. Is there any option that I can directly translate all the strings and then use them in project? Or do I have to copy paste each and every string in Google translator and get it done?
Please suggest.

Thanks again.
Niks

[DLee65]

I just read over the help text for supporting multiple languages.
I am assuming that you have the Premier edition of InstallShield as that seems to be the only version that supports multiple languages.

Edition: The Premier edition of InstallShield includes support for creating multilingual installations.

For translations, InstallShield does not include anything to automatically translate the string table. I do not recall seeing any 'language packs' available either that can handle simpler things like control buttons and such.

Make sure you read through the help regarding 'Settings for Languages'. There are settings you can make at the component level regarding languages, and such. I suspect you have all of these issues ironed out already as your original question just deals with the text on the dialogs.

I would caution against using Google Translator for anything but simple one-word controls like the Next, Back, and Cancel Buttons. The reason is that you may end up with some embarrassing idioms from the translation. As good as Google Translate is for casual translation for chats or even emails, it may not be the best for a professional product. I would encourage my managers to look for someone who writes Arabic fluently to do the translation for you.
One simple test to show the problems with Google Translator is to take a complex sentence, enter it in Google Translate, translate it to a chosen language, then translate the text back. In most all cases you will see that the sentence construct is awkward at best.

Also, once you have your text translated, be sure you go through all of your dialogs to ensure that the text fits the assigned controls, such as text boxes, edit controls, buttons, etc. Sometimes a dialog has to be tweaked a bit to make sure all of the text fits. 🙂

In the help search for 'Translating String Entries' as well. This may give some more clarity to the issue. Go through the links at the bottom as well, such as 'Localizing the End-User Interface and Globalization Tips.

EDIT: I just looked at the 'New Language Wizard' for a suite project. I had no idea how complex Arabic could be. It looks like there are several 'flavors' of Arabic available. Hopefully in your context you can narrow the scope of the translation work. Good luck.

[Johannes_John]

Hello,

my first idea was:
Do you have activated the release setting "Build UTF-8 Database"?

Regards
Johannes

[niks]

DLee65 wrote:
I just read over the help text for supporting multiple languages.
I am assuming that you have the Premier edition of InstallShield as that seems to be the only version that supports multiple languages.


For translations, InstallShield does not include anything to automatically translate the string table. I do not recall seeing any 'language packs' available either that can handle simpler things like control buttons and such.

Make sure you read through the help regarding 'Settings for Languages'. There are settings you can make at the component level regarding languages, and such. I suspect you have all of these issues ironed out already as your original question just deals with the text on the dialogs.

I would caution against using Google Translator for anything but simple one-word controls like the Next, Back, and Cancel Buttons. The reason is that you may end up with some embarrassing idioms from the translation. As good as Google Translate is for casual translation for chats or even emails, it may not be the best for a professional product. I would encourage my managers to look for someone who writes Arabic fluently to do the translation for you.
One simple test to show the problems with Google Translator is to take a complex sentence, enter it in Google Translate, translate it to a chosen language, then translate the text back. In most all cases you will see that the sentence construct is awkward at best.

Also, once you have your text translated, be sure you go through all of your dialogs to ensure that the text fits the assigned controls, such as text boxes, edit controls, buttons, etc. Sometimes a dialog has to be tweaked a bit to make sure all of the text fits. 🙂

In the help search for 'Translating String Entries' as well. This may give some more clarity to the issue. Go through the links at the bottom as well, such as 'Localizing the End-User Interface and Globalization Tips.

EDIT: I just looked at the 'New Language Wizard' for a suite project. I had no idea how complex Arabic could be. It looks like there are several 'flavors' of Arabic available. Hopefully in your context you can narrow the scope of the translation work. Good luck.

Hi DLee,

Thanks for your response. Will work further on this see if I have any good option to get my dialogs translated.

Regards,
Niks

[niks]

Johannes John wrote:
Hello,

my first idea was:
Do you have activated the release setting "Build UTF-8 Database"?

Regards
Johannes

Hi Johannes,

Sorry didn't understand what you are trying to point at. Please clarify. Maybe it helps me further.

Regards,
Niks

[Johannes_John]

Hello Niks,
when I added chinese files to a german setup, I got problems, because of the multiple codepages.
So I had to activate the release setting "Build UTF-8 Database".
Regards
Johannes