ActiveX Plugin v3.1 translation tips

The ActiveX plugin's strings are stored within Opus's language DLLs and translated as part of the translation of Opus itself.

Since some of the ActiveX plugin's strings are only used in certain situations (e.g. on Windows 2000, or on 64-bit Vista machines), I thought it would be useful to explain some of them. If anything is still unclear let me know and I'll add additional explanations and screenshots to help.

  1. There are no strings to translate in any of the plugin's DLL, OCX or EXE files.

    Here's a slightly out-of-date screenshot of the plugin's strings to give you an idea. A few are missing and the IDs are all different now. (The screenshot was taken when the strings lived in the plugin itself, before they were moved into the Opus language DLLs to make life easier.)

  2. Most of those strings are to do with the config dialog. If you can, use Vista as you'll see a lot more in the dialog. Even better, use Vista 64-bit as there are a few strings which only get used under 64-bit.

    Vista 32-bit:

    Vista 64-bit:

    Windows 2000:

  3. There are no dialogs to translate. (There are two dialogs but they have no text or controls in them.) All the text is in the string table and the buttons etc. get created and sized at runtime. This means that, within reason, you don't have to worry about how long your translated text is. If it's longer than the original English strings then the dialog layout will adjust accordingly.

    So, for example, if the translation of Open Temporary Copies is really long then the group box on the right will grow to accommodate it. It also means you don't have to worry about which font is going to be used.

    If stuff is really, really long then things might break or look silly, of course, and you should also keep in mind that the dialog should fit on a 1024x768 screen (or 800x600 if you can manage it).

    The dialog layout code probably won't work with langauges which are not left-to-right. Let me know if it causes you problems.

  4. Most of the strings should be self-explanatory, but here's some info on ones that may not be obvious:

    • IDS_CONFIG_HEADINGS_TYPE ("Type") is the name of the Type column in the config dialog. Fairly obvious, but you'll only ever see that string on Windows 2000 so I thought I'd mention it. (On XP and above there is no Type column as groups/dividers are used instead.)

    • Similarly, IDS_VIEWER_TYPE_PREVIEW_HANDLER ("Preview Handler") is only used on Windows 2000. It will be in the Type column for each Preview Handler. On Windows XP and above, IDS_VIEWER_TYPE_HEADING_PREVIEW_HANDLERS ("Preview Handlers", i.e. plural) will be used as the group heading for all preview handlers.

      (Although unlikely, it is possible for a Preview Handler to be installed on Windows 2000. They're usually only installed with Vista and Office 2007 (which can only install on XP and Vista) but the plugin will look for them on all versions of Windows.)

    • The other group/type strings also have two versions to allow your translation to use singular in one case and plural in the other (or whatever is appropriate). In the English version they happen to all be the same as each other, except in the Preview Handler(s) case.

    • IDS_CONFIG_CHECKBOX_TOOLBARS ("Allow &Toolbars") is never shown at the moment but might be used in the future.

    • To see how the IDS_CONFIG_HINT_* strings are used, configure the plugin on a Vista machine and turn on the Windows TXT preview handler. A warning will slide in at the top to say you've that enabled something which overrides something better.

      Don't worry about the length of those strings. They look better if they fit on a single line but the dialog will use multiple lines if they need it.

    • To see IDS_CONFIG_HINT_REMOVED_EXTS_SEPARATOR (" & ") and IDS_CONFIG_HINT_REMOVED_EXTS_BODY (" was removed from ") be used, you need to be on Vista and move a file extension from one preview handler to another. The plugin will show a message like this, in English:

      .PDF was removed from Adobe PDF for Vista & Foxit PDF

      In reality you will very rarely see the " & " string be used. I think someone would have to edit the configuration by hand to assign the same extension to two handlers, but it's possible. :)

    • IDS_MESSAGE_BOX_EXCEPTION is shown if something crashes.

    • IDS_VIEWER_NAME_32BIT_SUFFIX (" (32-bit)") is appended to 32-bit Preview Handler names on 64-bit Vista. For example, you might see:

      MS Office Excel (32-bit)

      The "MS Office Excel" name comes from the registry but the " (32-bit)" on the end is added by the plugin.

    • IDS_VIEWER_NAME_INTERNET_EXPLORER_32BIT and _64BIT, and IDS_VIEWER_NAME_GENERIC_ACTIVEX_32BIT and _64BIT, are only seen on 64-bit.