Re: [tlug] Editing XML

[Brian Chandler <brian@example.com>]

On 2014-06-19 09:21, Travis Cardwell wrote:
> On 2014年06月19日 03:56, Brian Chandler wrote:
> > So the question is: What is the right tool? InDesign files (haven't
> > actually managed to see one yet) appear to be xml,
>
> InDesign files (INDD) are not XML, but the document can be exported to
> IDML (InDesign Markup Language [1]) or XLIFF (XML Localisation Interchange
> File Format [2]), which are XML.  Memsource apparently supports IDML.

OK -- basically the havoc has already been wreaked by the time the XLIFF 
file has been made, with its inappropriate segmentation... But looking 
at this:

http://wiki.memsource.com/wiki/MemSource_Cloud_User_Manual#Segmentation

The only customisation mentioned is all about stopping abbreviations 
like approx. from splitting this sentence into two. Looks like a 
desperate hack to me. OTOH, there must be customization to break on 
Japanese 'maru'... so this is something else to ask about.

> > The question is whether there is some
> > other generic framework for cracking the text out of (specifically
> > .idml) xml files for translation, in an intelligent and flexible way,
> > capable of helping automation, rather than hindering it. For example,
> > one global replace, something like (imagined example):
> >
> > s/<char-special type='maru-suuji' value=$N>/($N)/
> >
> > ... would replace every circled number by the appropriate (n), supposing
> > that this is the design decision. To do this in Memsource effectively
> > means that every single numeral will be retyped, errors will occur, etc
> > etc. COST.
>
> sed! :)

Well, not exactly sed, because the need is for something xml-aware, 
which for example will replace 黒 by "black", but only inside <content> 
tags.

> Translate Toolkit [3] is a set of utilities written in Python and easy to
> hack (that has saved me considerable effort in software translation
> projects).  Though it does not support IDML, it supports XLIFF.

Right; XLIFF is post-havoc. The fundamental problem is that the L24n 
industry has not yet noticed you need to localise format as well as 
text, and this could be done systematically, just like the text.

Thanks! (for the other responses too)
Brian Chandler