PowerGlot Overview

In fact, it has built-in parsers for the following resource types: 'PPob', 'ALRT', 'DLOG', 'DITL', 'MENU', 'STR ', 'STR#', 'TEXT', 'WIND'. Except for the PPob (PowerPlant object definitions) parser, the main goal of the other parsers it to provide a clear appearance on the screen, appropriate for each type of resource. For example, MENU resources appear as real menu in the text list (see screen shots).

All other kinds of resources are supported through Resorcerer templates. These templates describe the resource format, so PowerGlot can extract all kinds of text from the described resources. The software can also use your custom templates to open your proprietary resources.

The user interface has been specifically designed to shield translators from the usual mistakes that happen when working on text files. As the user interface allows you to independantly edit each text item, you can't break the file as sometimes happens with other localization tools.

Built for Mac OS X
Starting with version 2.0, PowerGlot is Mac OS X compatible. More, it provides built-in support for Mac OS X applications. It can extract text from and process Interface Builder (.nib) files and localizable strings (.strings) files.

Metrowerks Powerplant compatible
PowerGlot includes a dedicated processing unit for PowerPlant resources. PowerPlant is the popular framework distributed by Metrowerks with the CodeWarrior development environment. PowerGlot reads PowerPlant resources ('PPob') but also the custom classes definitions ('CTYP' resources). With this unique parser, the software is able to read all the text strings embedded in your PowerPlant resources (Windows, Dialog boxes, and so on).

Palm OS resources support
PowerGlot comes with templates supporting resource files for Palm OS development. You can use PowerGlot to localize resource files containing Palm OS resources.

Memory Usage
Breaking the scheme introduced with Apple's own tools, PowerGlot keeps a whole translation database in memory. It makes for very fast access to all text! More, memory usage is kept very low. A database typically needs between 50k and 300k, depending on the volume of text that it contains.

Protecting/commenting specific strings
PowerGlot 's unique, user-friendly interface allows one to comment or lock individual text items. Translators can add their own comments on text items, and developers can put notes in the database to clarify the use of specific text strings. Developers can also lock text strings, preventing unwanted translation.

Objects resizing
Localizing an application often means that you'll have to resize dialog boxes, alerts, buttons, and do lots of text repositioning. PowerGlot provides a very powerful way to handle this. There are editable fields that you can change to modify the size of dialog items and items in PowerPlant windows. Of course, doing so by hand would be tedious. That's why PowerGlot can read the changes you make to a localize version of your software, and integrate them back into the database.

Synchronization
Even if you make changes to original (US) files after creating a database, PowerGlot is able to keep in sync with the changes you made and fetch the new or changed strings without losing the translations already done.

New Version of files to translate
Apart from synchronization, PowerGlot offers another mechanism. It's called New Version. Upgrading to a new version is the way to transfer all translation done on a version of your software to another version.

For example, if you have translated version 1.0 of your application and are about to release 2.0, you can make a copy of your 1.0 database, then update the application file to release 2.0. PowerGlot fetches all the text that did not change, restores the translations and also the object resizing information. This means that you can produce a localized version of a new release of your application in minutes.

Glossaries (Translation Memories)
PowerGlot supports the use of glossaries for automatic translation. A glossary is a list of text terms and their translation in a given language. You can create your own glossaries from text files, or using the embedded glossary editor in PowerGlot. More, the software is able to automatically build a glossary for you from a translation database.

2-Byte Languages Support
PowerGlot is fully WorldScript aware. It supports the Text Services Manager and Input Methods, allowing you to easily localize for languages like Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and so on. The powerful search/replace and automatic translation features are also WorldScript savvy.

Consistency Checks
A range of consistency checks can be performed by PowerGlot, either automatically after editing each text item, or globally when you request it. These checks include replacing three dots (...) with ellipses in menus, checking that there are no trailing or multiple spaces in strings (if there are not in the original text), and so on.

Scriptable
PowerGlot supports automated processing using AppleScript. It comes with a number of scripts, like one to import glosarry text files from various format into PowerGlot glossaries. With one script you can create and translate a database, then generate the localized files, making it easy to integrate PowerGlot in your development factory. You can also build prototypes of localized versions of your software in a matter of minutes.

Drag and Drop
All text fields in PowerGlot support drag and drop operations. If you end up translating big blocks of text (for example from TEXT resources) for which PowerGlot's editable fields are not wide enough for real comfort, you can just drag them to a word processor, translate them and drag them back to PowerGlot. Drag and drop is also supported for adding files to PowerGlot.

...And More!
PowerGlot is a feature-rich localization tool. There are many other features that are not described here, like Word Count, Localization Report, and more! The software comes with an extensive PDF manual.

Download PowerGlot now to see how it can save you countless hours of work.