698: Localization

[bluemodel-bot]

Original bug ID	698
Reported by	froehlich on 2016-11-08
Affects version	1.6
Component	UI
Severity	enhancement
Priority	P5
Milestone	---
Assigned to	froehlich
Status	REOPENED

Comments:

froehlich on 2016-11-08:

The interface is currently a horrible mix between German and English. We should make it either entirely English or, better even, allow the user to select a language.

The latter is of course a bit more work, but I think it is worth it in the long run. We could use the gettext system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettext) to manage the different language strings. Here are some possible .NET implementations:

• https://github.com/neris/NGettext
• https://sourceforge.net/projects/gettextnet/

froehlich on 2016-11-16:

I tested the above-mentioned gettext options: unfortunately, Visual Studio does not like it if you wrap strings with a GetString() function in the *.Designer.vb files, which is where most of the UI strings are located, of course. So I guess that is not an option.

I then saw this Microsoft help page about localizing Windows Forms: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y99d1cd3(v=vs.100).aspx
Basically, all localizable strings need to be stored in resource files. Strings in the UI (e.g. button text) can be entered in the Designer view and are automatically added to the resource files for that form. Any other messages need to be added manually to separate resource files. This means we end up with at least two resource files per language. I tested this also, and it works, but is very unwieldy and a bit confusing.

This tool could be helpful for editing those resource files: https://www.zeta-resource-editor.com/index.html

All in all, I dont think it is worth it after all. We should just use a single language.

froehlich on 2016-11-16:

... continued from comment above

So I changed the title of this bug to Localization and resolved it with LATER so that we can refer to it if we want to make Wave localizable one day. And I opened a new issue #40 for making Wave entirely English.

froehlich on 2016-11-16:

Actually, this bug should stay opened, otherwise it will never be seen again