[wxPython-users] Use another or native Language

[Robin Dunn]

Franz Steinhäusler wrote:

> Example from PyCrust:
> 
>>>> _("&Next")
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<input>", line 1, in ?
> NameError: name '_' is not defined
>>>> lc = wx.Locale(wx.LANGUAGE_DEFAULT)
>>>> _("&Next")
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<input>", line 1, in ?
> NameError: name '_' is not defined
>>>> import os
>>>> import gettext
> ... 
>>>> localedir = os.path.join(wx.__path__[0], "locale")
> ... 
>>>> langid = wx.LANGUAGE_DEFAULT    # use OS default; or use LANGUAGE_JAPANESE, etc.
>>>> domain = "wxstd"             # the translation file is messages.mo
> ... 
>>>> mylocale = wx.Locale(langid)
>>>> mytranslation = gettext.translation(domain, localedir,
> ...     [mylocale.GetCanonicalName()], fallback = True)
>>>> mytranslation.install()
> ... 
>>>> _("&Next")
> '&Weiter'
> 
> And I'm looking for a way to shorten this procedure.

_ is just a shortcut to a function (typically) and so you just need to 
give it a definition, or set it to some existing function.  For example:

  >>> _ = wx.GetTranslation
  >>> lc = wx.Locale(wx.LANGUAGE_FRENCH)
  >>> _("Next")
  u'Suivant'
  >>> del lc
  >>> lc = wx.Locale(wx.LANGUAGE_JAPANESE)
  >>> _("Next")
  u'\u6b21\u3078'


Or you could set it globally like the gettext module does by putting it 
in the __builtin__ module:

         import __builtin__
         __builtin__.__dict__['_'] = wx.GetTranslation


> 
> Second question:
> Ok, now the paths for the catalog for wxstd are initailized.
>   
> I'm looking for a convenient way to initialize a catalog file:
> For example: my App starte in c:\Eigene Dateien\python\drpython\drpython.py
> 
> First: what would be a convenient place to locate the .mo file?

It depends on the platform, as each has their standard locations for .mo 
files, although I think that it always looks in the current working 
directory first.  You can also add additional directories to the search 
path by calling wx.Locale.AddCatalogLookupPathPrefix.

> Second: is it possible to use the (untranslated) file .po directly? (it doesn't seem to work)

Yes and No.  Normally you can't, but if you really wanted to you could 
write a function that can parse the .po files and pull the translations 
out for you, and then assign that function to _, but only your code that 
uses that function would be using the .po file instead of the .mo file

> Third: What is the right way to initialize to use this catalog (in addition to wxstd.mo)?
> 
> (mo file is in the following location):
> c:\Eigene Dateien\python\drpython\locale\de\LC_MESSAGES\drpython.mo


lc.AddCatalog('drpython')

BTW, I think that on Windows it will not look in 
<prefix>/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES like it does on the other platforms, just 
<prefix>/<lang>.

-- 
Robin Dunn
Software Craftsman
http://wxPython.org  Java give you jitters?  Relax with wxPython!