A Visual UI String Editing Tool: Recommendations?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Paul Hoy wondered: <<Can someone recommend a tool that allows writers  
to update UI strings and save them to resource files?>>

Depends on what you mean by "resource files". If the resource format  
is proprietary to the specific programming language (i.e., it's some  
form of binary file), then you probably need to use that SDK's  
editing tools -- unless you can export and reimport the text somehow.  
If you do that, test very carefully; for example, export, reimport,  
then ask the programmers to use some kind of "diff" utility to make  
sure nothing changed. If nothing changed, then you can use this  
approach.

If the format is plain ASCII (text), then any word processor will  
work just fine, provided you remember to resave the file in text  
format when you're done. For example, I used to do a lot of editing  
of Delphi .PAS resource files using Word and revision tracking: you  
open the file in Word, save it as a .doc file, and edit using  
revision tracking. The developers then review (accept or reject or  
discuss) your edits, and save the results again as a text file. Works  
quite easily, and very efficient too. (See Chapters 12-13 in my book  
for other nifty ways you can use this same trick.)

One note of caution: always read up details of how the SDK formats  
text. For example, you may need to use special "escape" codes to  
indicate line breaks or characters such as quotation marks that may  
have special meanings in the resource file. You will also need to ask  
the developers about whether there are any length or other  
restrictions on the text you create; for example, if button labels  
are limited to 10 characters, you need to know this so you don't  
create any 20-character labels that are brilliantly clear -- but that  
aren't visible in the buttons. <g> In short: learn your constraints,  
and add the necessary QA steps to catch any problems.

----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
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