|
Architecture Overview
WizTom for Windows is based on two main components, which are:
 WizTom Runtime
and WizTom Studio
When the target application is running, the engine of
WizTom Runtime intercepts all calls to Windows text-APIs
in order to replace original strings with their translations.
WizTom Runtime is also able to resize controls and to change
the font used by the target application.
WizTom Studio is used to prepare the WizTom Multilingual
Database and to manage the localization process. WizTom Studio
is presented in details here.
Back to top
WizTom Runtime
WizTom Runtime must be shipped with the application. It is
fully optimized so that it will add negligible CPU and memory
overhead to the translated application. On disk, WizTom Runtime
takes less than 1 MB while the space used by the WizTom
Multilingual Database is proportionnal to the size of texts
stored in it. For instance, 10000 English words take less than
200 Kb.
WizTom Runtime is easy to deploy: the required files (WizTom
DLLs + Multilingual Database) must simply be copied to the
directory of the application. Several link options are avaible:
Manual
Link: the application call WizTom APIs to enable translation.
In this case, the source code must be available.
Automatic
Link: WizTom Studio links the application to WizTom Runtime so
that it is called automatically at startup.
External
Link: WizTom Runtime translates the target application through
the WizTom Controller.
WizTom Studio comes with an integrated module called "Deployment
Helper", which assists the Translation Manager to prepare the
deployment of WizTom Runtime and the WizTom Multilingual Database.
Back to top
WizTom Multilingual Database
To ensure the best performances possible, WizArt has implemented
its own proprietary database format. This specialized database system
enables lightning fast retrieval of multilingual texts; it is not a
general purpose database such as a relational database.
WizTom Multilingual Database uses cache, pages and a LRU mechanism
to cut down physical disk operations. The translation manager can
modify the default parameters, for instance the size of the cache
in memory. WizTom Multilingual Database supports Unicode, therefore
enabling storage of all character sets.
Back to top
Runtime Extensions
Some development tools extend the possibilities of the standard
Windows user interface and provide new graphical controls to enhance
the user interface. In order to fully support these controls, WizTom
for Windows comes with specialized extensions to the WizTom Runtime.
Extensions recognize these types of controls and handle them to
achieve the expected result:
correct
display of the translation (no truncation, respect of alignment),
support
of shortcuts,
dynamic
resizing,
font
replacement.
WizTom Studio automatically recognizes the development tool used to
develop the target application and integrates the required extensions
into the project.
Click here
to check the list of all supported development tools and software
packages.
Back to top
Character Sets Support
The WizTom Multilingual Database can store all character sets,
thus allowing WizTom Runtime to translate into any language such
as Greek, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, etc.
At runtime, the fonts used by the translated application are
replaced with their counterpart for the target language, thus
enabling the application to use the correct fonts even though it
was not designed to handle the current language, e.g. an
application developed in English and translated to Japanese with
WizTom for Windows.
Back to top
Translation Rules
Translation rules may be given to WizTom as directives to translate
complex strings. For instance, to correctly translate this text:
"There are 3 items left.", WizTom must know that
"3" is a variable. Under other conditions depending on
the runtime context, the string might as well come up as
"There are 5 items left."
This is done by replacing the variable part of the string with a
description of that variable surrounded by brackets. In the case we
are considering, we should use the following text: "There
are {number} items left.". A French translator would then
translate this text with "Il reste {number} éléments."
It is possible to cover more complex cases with extended
rules.
Back to top
Exceptions Mechanism
In an application, not all texts have to be translated. By default,
WizTom Runtime translates window titles, menus, labels, etc., but it
does not translate controls that may be populated with data or free
text such as edit fields, list-boxes or combo-boxes. This default
behavior can be changed using WizTom's Exceptions mechanism.
It is possible to define rules that enable or disable translation
of a single control or a collection of controls, for instance all
controls of the same kind, or all controls of a given window. With
WizTom Studio, exceptions may be set up graphically with a single
mouse click over the target control.
The exception mechanism is also used to resize controls or to give
specific translation rules.
Back to top
Printing Support
WizTom supports the translation of prints within an application,
as long as the application does the printing itself through the GDI
module (which is the case with most if not all Windows applications).
Translation of prints are easily setup in one click through WizTom
Studio. Translations for prints are taken from the same WizTom
Multilingual Database.
The exception mechanism is also available, except for resizing, by
using font characteristics such as font name, size, style, etc.
Back to top
Supported Environments
WizTom for Windows runs on the following operating systems:
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows Me
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 2000
Windows XP
New versions of Windows will be supported as they become available.
Back to top
|
Support
