French language pack (1.56 or 1.57)

[smokinjo]

I will need the French language pack, but ti is a little dated.

Will it be compatible with zen cart 1.56 or 1.57?

As well, what does it take to update the language pack? If there is a simple interface that allows one to add the new or updated translation of various texts, this would be great. I'd be interested in helping if I can, or with another person to move it forward.

Thanks

Joseph

[swguy]

After you make an update to an existing language pack, just go back to

https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php

find the one you started with - presumably
https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=62

and in the upper right hand side of the screen, click the link that says "Submit An Updated Version".

Your submission will be reviewed and pushed live shortly.

Merci!

[smokinjo]

Hello Software Guy

Thanks for the reply.

But, you did not answer my two questions:

1 - is it compatible with 1.56 or 1.57? Not knowing the changes in ZC, maybe it would still work if the text that is needed still works with the current version of ZC.

2 - in the event that it is not compatible, you nicely told me how to upload it. Great. But, how does one update it? I have no idea. Pretend you are talking to the ZC for dummies reader, because I really have no idea how to manage/update this file. Is it a totally manual update, or does ZC have one of those translation tools that can be used to allow easier translations of files/texts?

Thanks

Joseph

[carlwhat]

Hello Software Guy

Thanks for the reply.

But, you did not answer my two questions:

1 - is it compatible with 1.56 or 1.57? Not knowing the changes in ZC, maybe it would still work if the text that is needed still works with the current version of ZC.

2 - in the event that it is not compatible, you nicely told me how to upload it. Great. But, how does one update it? I have no idea. Pretend you are talking to the ZC for dummies reader, because I really have no idea how to manage/update this file. Is it a totally manual update, or does ZC have one of those translation tools that can be used to allow easier translations of files/texts?

Thanks

Joseph

answer to question #1, yes. it is compatible. language packs just define constants.

question #2, i think he did answer. if you update any file in the language pack, you can submit a new version, by taking all of the existing files, and any modifications, creating a new zip, and then use the link that says to submit an updated version. would be great for all of the other french users of zen-cart.

hope that helps "un peu".

best.

[smokinjo]

Thanks Carl,

I must have miscommunicated my request.

I was not asking how to place the newly updated french kanguage pack back up on the zen cart web site.

I was askign how to modify the files inthe exisiting langaues back in order to add in the needed updates to the files?

Again, I want to contribute to software I will be using. But, I am NOT a programmer or coder.

How do I open up these files and where and what do I change with in them? How do I know that the French version differs from the English version of the ZC.


On top of that, you say that they are compatible. How can one know that? Can I look in the french files and compare them with some english files to see what new translations need to be done?


Thanks

[swguy]

If a new defined constant has been introduced that is not yet in the older language file, all that happens is that on your site, you'll see the defined constant (and possibly get a PHP log depending on your PHP version). So for example, instead of a link to the shopping cart saying

Shopping Cart

It would look like

TEXT_SHOPPING_CART

[smokinjo]

Hello

What you are saying makes sense.

So, what I will do in this case, I will build the site, and when an error shows up, I will come back here and ask what files needs to be updated, and up date my site.

I will then, update the French Language with fixes I can add.

I will then immerse my self into learning how to update the language pack:)

Thanks

[swguy]

The only bit of "programming" that you'll need to incorporate is the changes made to how the group of files at the bottom of the main language file are pulled in.

See includes/languages/english.php in Zen Cart 1.5.6c line 632-636, or Zen Cart 1.5.7, line 604-608.

[torvista]

My recommendation...it's a long job so it needs to be split into stages.

1) Get Beyond Compare or equivalent: it's your primary tool.
and install ZC on a local computer: much easier to search for texts.

2) Understand that there are two sets of files: one for the shopfront, one for the admin.
Each one has an english.php file and an /english folder with lots of files in it. Each files has lots of constants defined in it, that get used by the code to display the texts.

3) Understand that a language pack is for general use, so there may be translations personal to you that are not suitable for other users.

So, you should really fix all the problems with the language pack on an uncustomised ZC157 site before copying the files to your site and then making overrides with your custom texts.

4) Duplicate the english.php files and folders and rename them french.

5) "install" french in the admin...this is just telling ZC that the language exists so it shows up in the menus.
Check that you can select french in the admin and in the shopfront and all works without errors....despite it still being in english of course.

6) Compare the old french language pack to the new french site files. There will be files that exist in one and not the other.

7) I suggest you work on the shopfront files first.
Where the same files exist: copy the old files to overwrite the copies of the english files.
The reason for this is that the files need to be in utf-8 format, and it is easier to start with the old files and add new constants.

8) Now compare the English fileset to the French fileset, one by one, to add/remove constants as necessary so all constants exist in both languages.
No need to translate them yet, just make sure they exist. And add the comment //todo at the start of the file so it can be found easily.
New files (that will be in english) will be in ANSI format and should be in utf-8, if not then you get odd characters displayed where accents are used.
I use Notepad++ for this: open the ANSI file, select all, cut, change the encoding, paste, save.

9) When you have equalised the constants and files, and you can navigate around the site without any errors, (but the text is a mixture of french and english phrases): the pack is "complete" and ready for the long work-in-progress that is the translation.

You will get white pages of death when you miss out a quotation mark, but the corresponding debug log will tell you where your mistake is.

I think people start with the best intentions of translating and submitting a translation like it is a few hours work. It is not.

As there are so many texts, it can be hard/impossible to translate them without seeing the context in which they are used and so there are constant minor changes to make as you find them in real use, later on (but mainly in the admin).

I suggest you learn how Github works, to host your translation.

I've been doing the Spanish pack for 10 years and there are still some parts I have never reviewed. It is a LOT of work to do it 100%...so do not try...get it on Github and do it when you want / when it is convenient / when you spot an error.

On Github you can make it available part-finished/as you go along: for others to contribute, and so you don't feel any pressure to hurry-up and submit a final/updated version to the Zen Cart site, and lose your enthusiasm on the way.