Manually Editing Translations within Apex without Exporting and Importing XLIFF File

Everyone already knows that translating an application built with Apex involves the following steps:

1. Map your primary language application to a translated application
2. Seed and export the translation text of your application into an translation file (XLIFF file)
3. Translate text identified in translation file
4. Apply your translation file and publish

Joel Kallman referred to a less know feature in this context during his presentation last month - “Go Global with Oracle Application Express!”- at the ODTUG Conference in New Orleans. Since Apex version 2.2 it is possible to perform your translations even more rapidly, without the need to export and import the XLIFF file again. Via Apex you can manually edit their translations within the repository. But, you still have to follow the same globalization process: mapping, seeding (without exporting the XLIFF file), translating and publishing (without applying the XLIFF file first).

So, to manually edit a translatable text, navigate to “Shared Components” > “Globalization” > “Translate Application” and follow these steps:

1. Map your primary language application to a translated application.
   This 1st step is unchanged.
   


2. Seed the translatable text (without exporting the XLIFF file).
   Click step 2. Choose your “Language Mapping” and press “Seed Translatable Text”. A message like “Translatable application 143 text seed complete for fr.” appears. Seeding is succeeded now. You may end this step because we don’t want to export an XLIFF file.
   


3. Manually edit translation.
   From the “Translation Utilities” list (right on your page), choose “Manually Edit Translations”. The “Translatable Text” page appears. Within the search bar you can enter some search criteria.
   
   
   To edit translatable text, click the “Edit” icon; translate your text and press “Apply changes”.
   



4. Publish the application (without applying the XLIFF file first).
   From the “Navigate” list (right on your page), choose “Publish Application”. Select the correct language mapping in “Create Application” and press “Publish Application”.

Finished!

This is an alternative and quick manner to achieve translations after small application changes due to bug fixing or other small modifications.

Last remark : Suppose you do have an application to translate using the XLIFF file, then you can edit your XLIFF file either by using a simple text-editor, MS-Word or an XML Editor (XML Spy or JDeveloper)... To avoid the repetitive work with these editors you can always use our own free utility, the XLIFF Translator. Within this translator we provide a kind of a dictionary, so it will be possible to automate a part of the translation process for words/sentences that are repeatedly used. For more information read the blogs about the XLIFF Translator from January 2007 and February 2007.