Dictionary in plaintext, not binary

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robert.kuipers
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:47 pm

Dictionary in plaintext, not binary

Post by robert.kuipers »

Hello,

Because we have multiple programmers working on the same project, I would like to know if I can store the dictionary in a plain text format (not binary), so we can work with multiple people on the same dictionary by adding it to our version control system (SubVersion cannot merge binary files, but it can merge plaintext files).

Thanks,

Robert
isiticov
Site Admin
Posts: 2383
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 3:17 pm

Post by isiticov »

Hello,

Do you mean dictionary or SIB/SIL file of project? Unfortunately, Dictionary Managers stores data in binary format only. But if you mean a translation of a project then you can consider to use SIL (it is plain text) file.
Best regards,
Igor Siticov.
robert.kuipers
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:47 pm

Post by robert.kuipers »

I mean the dictionary file (not the SIL/SIB file). We need to have a central repository for all our projects in our version control system.
isiticov
Site Admin
Posts: 2383
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 3:17 pm

Post by isiticov »

You can then export dictionary into XML and then add it to version control system. Will this help?
Best regards,
Igor Siticov.
robert.kuipers
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:47 pm

Post by robert.kuipers »

Hello isiticov,

First of all, thanks for your quick replies!

I'll try to explain my problem (please bear with my English):

1. I Have for example 10 project, each translated in three languages
2. Because all projects have a lot of translations in common, I decide to use a single dictionary for all projects
3. I have multiple developers working on the same project simultaneously, and those developers can add / remove / update items in the global dictionary
4. Because of the simultaneous access to the repository, it needs to be under version control (so the programmers can merge / solve conflicts when updating their working copy)
5. Imagine programmers 1 and 2 work on the same project, project A
6. Programmer 1 adds a new form, with a couple of new labels which need to be translated. He translates it, and then adds the translations to the global dictionary, so other programmers can use it in the future
7. Programmer 2 does the same, only for an other form with different labels/translations.
8. Programmer 1 first commits his changes (including the changes to the global dictionary), everything goes well and there are no conflicts
9. Programmer 2 then commits his changes (including the changes to the global dictionary) but finds that he needs to update his working copy first, because of the commit of programmer 1 in step 8
10. During this update of his working copy, the global dictionary will be in a conflicted state, because the changes of programmer 1 cannot be merged with the chages of programmer 2 because it is a binary file.

When all programmers have to convert their dictionary to xml before committing means an extra step of work (prone to errors), and after each update, they need to manually merge the updated xml with their dictionary.

Is it possible (maybe in a future version) to allow users to store their dictionaries in a different format (maybe XML like you suggested) instead of the binary .dic format? In that way, programmers don't have to perform extra steps in the commit / update procedures, and changes can be merged.

Thanks,

Robert
isiticov
Site Admin
Posts: 2383
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 3:17 pm

Post by isiticov »

robert.kuipers wrote: Is it possible (maybe in a future version) to allow users to store their dictionaries in a different format (maybe XML like you suggested) instead of the binary .dic format? In that way, programmers don't have to perform extra steps in the commit / update procedures, and changes can be merged.
We will try to add in forthcoming version 7.0 the ability to work directly with XML files.
Best regards,
Igor Siticov.
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