Personal Backup

Translations to other languages

Personal Backup basically uses English captions and dialogs. The translation to German was done by using GNU Gettext for Delphi by Lars B. Dybdahl. This system makes it very easy for anyone to create a translation to another language. There are just two things needed:

• The template files (po-files) with all English phrases used in the program
• A simple text editor to insert the translated phrases

Special editors

The translation work is facilitated by using a special po-editor (more info).
Recommended programs:

• Gorm - good for non-technical people
• Poedit  - good for programmers

Help needed

People who wish to help by creating translations to other languages are welcomed. They need to download the po templates for Personal Backup and one of the po editors.
Note: As Personal Backup 5 was created with the Delphi 2009 development system that has full Unicode support, there are no restrictions on the character sets able to be used for the translation.

Creating a new translation

After downloading the templates you should create an appropriate work space on your computer:

Recommended directory structure

1. Create a new directory pb-phrases in My Documents
2. Copy the templates to this folder
3. Create a subdirectory languages
4. There, create subdirectories for each language you wish to support
5. Open the template with an editor (e.g. poedit) and save as a new file in the appropriate language subdirectory.
   Poedit will require some prior changes to the catalog settings (see screenshot on right).
6. Insert the translated phrases. Make sure that the translated phrases have similar lengths to the originals so that they will fit into their fields in the desktop window.
7. Send the po file back to me as an . I will then integrate the translation into the program package.

Updating translations

Templates will change on new program versions. GNU Gettext for Delphi has tools to update the templates and to merge the new templates with the existing translations. Because of this, only new and changed phrases have to be edited.
I will carry out the merging of the new template with the previous translation after each update and will then send the partial translation back to the translator for further editing.
If anyone wishes to merge template and translation himself, he will need to download and install dxgettext on his computer after which an entry will be found in the context menu of all po files for merging them with the templates.

Update process

1. Copy the new templates to the directorypb-phrases
2. Right-click on the translated po file and select ggmerge
3. Select the po template and check Remember settings
4. Start file merging
5. Enter the editor (e.g. Poedit) to add and change translations

Downloads:

• English po-templates for Personal Backup Version 5.3 (Unicode compatible)
• German po files for Personal Backup Version 5.3
• Ukrainian po files for Personal Backup Version 5.1 (partially translated)
• English po-templates for Personal Backup Version 4.5
• German po files for Personal Backup Version 4.5
• Translations for Delphi components: Delphi 2009, Delphi 7 and Indy 10
• Gorm editor installlation
• Poedit setup for Windows

Overview of existing translations for Delphi components.