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Assima Multilingual Suite for Windows and WebWhitepaper

Copyright © 2013 Assima. Unauthorized reproduction & distribution prohibited. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc., respectively in the U.S. and other countries. AMS is a trademark or registered trademark of Assima, respectively in the U.S. and other countries. Names of products referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

WhitepaperAssima Multilingual Suite for Windows and Web

Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1

AMS for Windows ......................................................................................................... 3

AMS Studio ..............................................................................................................................................3

Modules included in the AMS Studio ........................................................................................................3

AMS Thesaurus ........................................................................................................................................4

AMS Runtime Engine ...............................................................................................................................4

AMS for Windows Architecture .................................................................................................................5

AMS for the Web .......................................................................................................... 6

AMS Web Proxy Server ...........................................................................................................................6

AMS Web Proxy Server Features ............................................................................................................6

AMS for Web Architecture ........................................................................................................................7

Process........................................................................................................................ 8

Localization Process ................................................................................................................................8

Benefits ..................................................................................................................... 10

Supported Languages ................................................................................................. 11

Supported Development Languages ............................................................................. 12

Summary ................................................................................................................... 14

Introduction


Page 1

It has become imperative for software publishers to view localization not only as a preference to consider but as a necessity for growth and survival in a competitive market. The need for software publishers to localize arises from several factors starting with the demands of user preferences, legal issues, and the obvious competition targeting foreign markets.

When it comes time to translate an application into another language it seems only reason-able that a developer should be responsible for such a task after all s/he developed the ap-plication in the original language in the first place. This assumption implies that the original source code will need to be modified as well. There is a risk that the original developer who developed the application is no longer available, or that even the original or newly recruited developers modifying the source code for introduction of a new language will encounter maintenance issues and even worse a break in the application code no longer allowing it to function as per its original standards.

Unless willing to outsource the entire localization project to a third party translation provider handing over all reliability and control, this implies that the only other alternative is to use the translation components included with some of the programming language tools (such as Translation Toolkit with PowerBuilder). However, the only human resources capable of working with such a tool is a member of the IT team (a developer again). This method of procedure will result in restrictions such as more than often applications are developed with a combination of different technologies, hence heterogeneous environments that do not conform under the same umbrella. Even if an application is solely and purely developed with a single development tool, developers notice that incorporated localization toolkits fail to in-clude features such as: full text search and replace function for strings; feature that allows to view all strings that have been translated separately from strings not yet translated; feature that allows developers to specify that a string is not to be translated.

Even with the greatest developers and the best thought out processes to avoid risks and work around the restrictions, it is hard to imagine that the need to translate an application will not involve much reallocation of time and human resources moving away from development and focusing on translation instead. Also hard to imagine how a new update / upgrade release for the original application can be released simultaneously with that of the translated into several foreign language applications; either leading to a much delayed release of the foreign language equivalent update / upgrade or even worse running the risk of never implementing or releasing it at all. Assima’s technology rids these burdens off developers’ shoulders, avoid-ing all risks, and going beyond all limitations by externalizing the translation process from the IT development team.

The Assima Multilingual Suite (AMS) – previously known as WizTom – is a suite of enterprise software solutions which permit multilingual capabilities to be added to existing applications. Over 200 customers, mostly large accounts and software companies, are using AMS for their multilingual needs. AMS is the result of more than 10 years of experience in the localization field.


Page 2

AMS adds an external multilingual user interface layer to an existing application without applying any modifications to the original application source code. AMS intercepts applica-tion texts before being displayed on the screen, swaps in translated texts and displays a translated user interface. Therefore, while maintaining the original unchanged application the end-users will be able view a localized application.

In addition, AMS supports a diversity of technical environments from Windows based, Web based, Java based, and .NET applications. AMS allows for the localization of applications into any language, from Arabic to Zulu, whether the source code is ANSI or Unicode-compliant, double-byte enabled or not. Furthermore, the access to an application’s source code is not a prerequisite in order to render an application multilingual.

AMS for Windows


Page 3

AMS for Windows consists of a client program (AMS Studio), a proprietary multilingual data-base (AMS Thesaurus) for storing translations, and a Runtime module (AMS Runtime Engine) that works with ANSI, DBCS or UNICODE. Combined, AMS for Windows resolves the primary problems localizers have faced in the past, because it allows a single application file to serve an unlimited number of languages, with the tools needed to create and publish the added “language layers.”

AMS Studio

AMS Studio provides the development/translation functions of AMS for Windows. It’s easy and intuitive, sup-porting ANSI, DBCS and Unicode natively, and it allows typing texts in all character sets, including Asian and Bi-Directional (as long as the underlying Windows operating version supports these character sets).

AMS Studio is the component that clients use: it has specialized tools for text extraction, file import and export, and deployment. Its main job is to enable the development of a multilingual database of text elements and object coordinates related to the client’s application. AMS Studio enables the user to extract text and prepare it for translation and it provides the translation tools for the actual language and resizing work.

Modules Description

Project Manager Allows the user to create, modify, configure, and delete projects.

Version Manager Stores and restores different versions of the project, easily.

Language Manager Adds, removes and sets properties of languages, such as right-to-left reading and character set names.

Translation Editor Enables the user to enter translations, and offers several options for visu-alizing and typing text. Small texts can be visualized on a line per line basis, and if entire paragraphs need to be translated, a full editor is avail-able. In addition, this module integrates an HTML editor so that translators do not need to know HTML syntax when they translate texts that integrate HTML.

Dictionary Manager Manages the dictionaries used by the translators. It will let them add, modify and remove dictionaries and translations. Each time the transla-tor enters a new translation, it is automatically added to the translator’s personal dictionary.

Thesaurus Editor Gives the user access to the Thesaurus where modifications can be made using this tool.

Workflow Manager Allows the user to dispatch the work to the translators, and once the trans-lations are done, this module consolidates them and presents them to those in charge of validation. This module also integrates a deployment helper.

Audit Permits special events to be logged and searched or saved to a file and sent to technical support.

Extractor & Live Capture Used to extract text found in the application. The integrated extractor is a tool that can be run through binary, resource and/or source files. Live Capture is another way to retrieve texts—when source code is not avail-able, for example. As screens of the application are viewed, a user can automatically add the content to the Thesaurus.

Modules included in the AMS Studio


Page 4

AMS Thesaurus

Thesaurus is the proprietary multilingual database where the translations are stored. It is capable of handling large amounts of texts and retrieving them very quickly.

• In operation, texts are grouped inside a Thesaurus, which is specially formatted to allow fast retrieval.

• Texts are generally stored in Unicode, enabling storage of all translations for different languages in the same Thesaurus.

• The size of the Thesaurus is limited by Windows (100 MB); linking several Thesauruses at Runtime ef-fectively eliminates the size limitation.

• Thesaurus integrates cache management and least recent used (LRU) mechanisms to enhance per-formance. The cache size can be set via a properties variable in the Thesaurus. Fast access is obtained by using primary key, hashing and binary search functions.

• This database also allows the storing of non-translation related information such as parameters, dialog resizing and configuration information, making it eminently flexible and useful.

AMS Runtime Engine

AMS Runtime Engine is the deployment component. It functions in two primary ways:

• it operates in conjunction with the client application to be translated;

• it performs the work of deploying the foreign languages, making them appear in the U/I.

AMS Runtime Engine is the component that traps all Windows’ textual messages from your application, swaps the text with the appropriate language version found in the Thesaurus and sends them to Windows for display on behalf of the clients.

AMS Runtime Engine applies the translated text and object coordinates, such as buttons or bars, through real-time swapping of screen information. This occurs as the original-language application runs, with the Engine operating either locally or within the client-server architecture. To achieve the swapping capability, the AMS Runtime Engine’s executable and library (DLL) files are added to the client application’s installation directory along with the project Thesaurus. When the Engine is activated, it will cause the selected language to be displayed instead of the original one.

The Engine’s language control can be the AMS Controller version – a standalone program (EXE) with sepa-rate window using language flag icons – or can be limited to a set of libraries (DLL) integrated into the applica-tion by using the WIZSETLANGUAGE API function.

Documentation Viewer Allows users to access the product’s documentation, thus enabling quick access to basic as well as detailed reference materials.

Deployment Manager Used to create and assemble the files to be added to the installation di-rectory so it can run in multilingual environment. Files include the project Thesaurus and Runtime Engine executables (EXE and DLL).


Page 5

AMS for Windows Architecture

After the user has employed AMS Studio to translate the application into a foreign language application, the translated application will run with the AMS Runtime Engine. The AMS binaries and the multilingual Thesau-rus are copied to the application directory. Then, the AMS Runtime Engine intercepts Windows calls from the application and the Windows OS layers and sends back calls with the corresponding translated strings and adjusted objects based on data previously populated in Studio. Although the application undergoing transla-tion is running in its native language, the user interface and all text messages will appear in a completely translated form. At the same time, AMS uses control information, also stored in the Thesaurus, to reformat objects so they accommodate the foreign-language text.

The result is that AMS not only handles multiple languages, but also allows the dynamic switching between them, without restarting your software application. Switching between Arabic and English, for example, can be done with a single click. And this tool is no hog. It was designed to be small and fast, so it can run in the background. Runtime executable files occupy less than a megabyte of RAM, and the AMS Thesaurus is a proprietary indexed database built for speed, using cache memory pages, and an LRU mechanism to mini-mize disk hits. Its size depends on the number of languages and amount of content per language, with 10,000 English words taking less than 200KB.

Figure 1: AMS for Windows Architecture

Legend1. The application GUI calls Windows to display text and content

2. AMS Windows Runtime intercepts the call and replaces with

translated text from Multilingual Dictionary

3. RLT passes translated text to Windows

4. Application is rendered multilingual on-the-fly


Page 6

AMS for the Web

Similar to AMS for Windows, the AMS for the Web also consists of a client program (AMS Studio), and a proprietary multilingual database (AMS Thesaurus) for storing translations (see above). However in the case of the AMS for the Web, the last component is a server module (AMS Web Proxy Server).

AMS Web Proxy Server

AMS Web Proxy Server is the deployment component. It functions in two primary ways:

• it operates in conjunction with the Web application to be translated;

• it performs the work of deploying the foreign languages, making them appear in the displayed Web pages.

AMS Web Proxy Server is a Web Reverse Proxy Server – it accepts requests from clients and forwards them to the origin server on behalf of the clients. When the origin server sends the response back, AMS Web Proxy Server traps all Web page content being displayed by the Web server, swaps the text with the appropriate lan-guage version found in the Thesaurus, and sends it to the client browser for display on behalf of the clients.

To achieve the swapping capability, the project Thesaurus and executables (EXE, DLL) are activated as a Proxy Server using normal server activation methods. During testing, the Proxy Server allows access to translated content. In production, the origin Web site server port (usually port 80) is assigned to the Proxy Server which intercepts all site requests from client browsers. The origin Web site server (usually port 8080) is accessed by clients as usual, with no change to URL naming.

Features Description

Network Architecture AMS Web Proxy Server can be easily integrated into an existing architec-ture simply by installing it on the host where the Web server resides. Or, it can be installed on a different computer on the same LAN (Local Area Network), or even on a computer on another LAN (i.e. on the internet).

Performance AMS Web Proxy Server has been designed for maximum performance. It is built around a multi-threaded architecture using overlapped I/O and completion port. This is the best architecture available on Windows2000 (other major products use this architecture, e.g., Internet Information Server from Microsoft). AMS Web Proxy Server can be used with Win-dows2000 Load Balancing Service to ensure scalability, load balancing and high availability.

Scalability & Availability AMS Web Proxy Server is highly scalable. Because AMS for the Web is a stateless server, performance will increase proportionally to the number of hosts running AMS for the Web. AMS for the Web can be used in conjunc-tion with Windows2000 Load Balancing Service (WLBS), which comes with the Enterprise Edition of Windows2000. WLBS provides load balanc-ing and automatic fail over in the event of host failure. This capability can result in more stable infrastructure and a higher degree of availability.

Security AMS Web Proxy Server only needs to access to HTTP and HTTPS (SSL over HTTP) ports (respectively 80 and 443). No other service is required, thus avoiding possible security failure in services such as FTP, Telnet and mail. Administrators and translators have limited access.

AMS Web Proxy Server Features


Page 7

Audit AMS Web Proxy Server logs important events using the “NT event” mech-anism. More audits and traces can be obtained by using the command line version of AMS Web Proxy Server.

AMS for Web Architecture

After the user has employed AMS Studio to localize the foreign language Web site, the user invokes the AMS Web Proxy Server.

The AMS Proxy Server binaries and the multilingual Thesaurus are copied to the Proxy Server directory which may be on the origin server that runs the Web server or on a separate local or remote system.

The Web Proxy Server operates between client browsers and the origin server, swapping in translated strings. That is, the AMS Reverse Proxy Server filters the HTTP flow, looks for text inside the page, swaps them with their translations and sends back the modified page to the Client.

Although the Web application undergoing translation is running in its native language, the user interface and all text messages will appear in a completely translated form.

Figure 2: AMS for the Web architecture

Legend1. Web Browser sends out a request to the web server for content

2. Assima Web Proxy Server picks up the request and forwards

to the Web Server

3. Web Server sends the requested content and text back

4. RLT intercepts content and replaces with translation from

Multilingual Dictionary

5. Application is rendered multilingual on-the-fly


Page 8

Process

The Localization and Runtime processes for applications using AMS is neither invasive to source code and libraries nor time-intensive to implement. Using AMS Studio to populate the AMS Thesaurus of a given application and AMS Runtime Engine or the AMS Web Proxy to swap strings and adjust objects on the fly, an application results with a completely external-ized language. This in turn allows the user to create one or multiple foreign-language layers that, though clearly visible to the user, have no interaction with the application code and hence dramatically reduce impact on engineering resources to create, QA and support local-ized versions. Here’s how it works:

Localization Process

Step 1. Extract

The user employs AMS Studio to extract text strings from binary files (EXE, DLL, OCX – the resource part of the binaries), resource files (RC), flat text files, database tables, and source code according to the de-velopment environment (i.e. FMT / MMT files from Oracle Forms, PBL files from PowerBuilder, W files from Progress, etc.). If strings are embedded in the code, then extraction from source code is necessary. AMS Studio uses two approaches: “capture mode” and an automated “text crawling” extractor. AMS Studio also scans the code and properties associated with an application’s objects, collecting such strings as error mes-sages, labels, and window titles and stocking the Thesaurus so human translators can perform their work. In this process, AMS Studio also recognizes dynamic messages and extracts text for printed reports.

Capture Mode can be used to complete the Extraction process, translate third-party components or whole software packages for which source code is not available, as well as prepare localized prototypes for demo purposes. Because AMS Runtime Engine operates in the background alongside the application to be trans-lated, missing strings are automatically added to the Thesaurus and changes appear onscreen instantly for translation using AMS Studio’s Translation Editor. The automated extractor is the tool of choice for most localization projects. As with capture mode, it’s a point-and-click process.

Using AMS Studio’s Text Preprocessor, the user can review extracted text and filter out strings that should not be translated. In addition, using Perl-like regular-expression syntax, the Text Preprocessor enables the use of a variety of regular expressions in both the condition and the rule. The Text Preprocessor includes a Regular Expression Diagnostic Helper to allow testing of regular expressions; both regular expressions and extraction rules may be saved as part of a template for future AMS translation projects.

AMS localization process follows the following 4 basic steps:

Figure 3: AMS Localization Process


Page 9

Import / Export File Transfer feature is used once extraction is complete. AMS can export files in a number of formats: In addition to its proprietary Translation Pad File, it supports text file formats with values separated by Tabs (TSV), Comma (CSV), semi-colon and other delimiter, so translators can work in such tools as MS Excel and Trados. The import/export file transfer function supports TMX formats (Translation Memory eXchange) as well. TMX is a localization industry standard that is becoming widely supported by translation and localization software packages.

Step 2. Translate

Companies that choose this product can localize their Windows and / or Web applications themselves (through internal resources), or they can outsource the translation to any third party. In either case, the proc-ess is equally well facilitated.

AMS Studio provides two main tools for translators: Translation Editor and Translation Pad. Translation Editor displays text extracted to the Thesaurus and allows translators to directly enter translations into the database. Translators, or those who check completed translations, have available both list-format and WYSIWYG view-ing options, as well as the ability to sort translated texts and show or hide previously translated text to highlight what remains to be done.

Translation Pad accepts exported Transpad (THP) files containing all or part of the Thesaurus, so no need to send off the entire Thesaurus to outside translators. When updating, only the non-translated strings need to be exported and sent to the translator. In addition, all or part of the Thesaurus can be exported to TSV files for translation to be performed in an editor, such as Trados, and then imported back.

AMS Translation Pad is freely distributable, and both the ANSI and the Unicode versions of Translation Pad are provided with AMS installations. Translations completed by outside translators using Translation Pad can be e-mailed back to the project manager and imported into the Thesaurus. Translations from different re-sources can be merged. The translated application would be tested while the original application is running.

Step 3. Quality Assure

Any software developer who has completed a localization project will tell you that translation does not equal localization. Just to take one small example, translations must fit specific objects, like buttons, and this is not so straightforward when the English “Up” becomes “Aufwärts” in German. Traditional localization approaches often mean altering application code or key libraries, resulting in new versions of applications for each foreign language. With AMS, translated content is directly applied to the target application’s displayed user interface during the translation process, making it possible to check the impact of translation on the application’s GUI, enabling Studio users to visually pinpoint and manually fix GUI issues immediately.

AMS Studio’s Object Translation Tool lets the user resize any screen object with a click and a drag, and Studio saves localized data in its own database for correct redrawing at Runtime - all without altering source code.

Step 4. Deploy

Deploying the Runtime Engine creates the Runtime Language Module, which contains the project The-saurus and the Runtime Engine binaries. The deployed Thesaurus can contain one, several or all target languages.

The deployment process initiates the Release version of the Runtime Language Module. This module is added to the application’s install files and made part of the application’s runtime directory. This step signals completion: once the process is validated, the deployment files are made part of the original product release, and the new product release is now multilingual.


Page 10

Benefits

Single source code and executable

With AMS the source code and the executables themselves are left untouched. It is the original (i.e. English) version of the application that is deployed and AMS runs on top of it to make it multilingual.

When there is an update for the original (i.e. English) version of your application, the foreign language version can also be available very quickly for international users by simply updating the thesaurus.

Developers can focus on the features of application

With AMS, developers will continue to bring value to the company by focusing on the technical features of the application, not on translations.

Technical and linguistic worlds stay separated

With AMS, people with linguistic skills will focus on the translations and will not be involved on the develop-ment side. And the developers will not have to deal with translations.

Updates of the application

Updates are very easy to manage with AMS. Basically the cost of the update will be proportional to its size.

Additional languages

With AMS, when a new language is added, most of the work will be to simply enter the translations.

Third party components

With AMS, third party components can be translated within the same process as the rest of the application.

Linguistic QA

Regardless of the solution selected, linguistic QA is required. However, with AMS when a defect is detected, a couple of minutes is all it takes to make the appropriate fixes. Other solutions that require modifications to be done directly in the source code, once defects are detected then changes to the source code and recompila-tion is required. This can be of concern, considering that often resources in charge of linguistic QA cannot change the source code themselves, and may have to request such changes to be made by the development team then wait for a new build of the application to check that the corrections were integrated correctly.

Risks and delays

Seeing as with AMS there is no need to touch the application’s source code, since the translations are taking place at the user interface level, this approach will guarantee that the original application will never break. Therefore, the solution provided by AMS minimizes the total risk of the localization project.


Page 11

Supported Languages

• All languages — including double-byte and bi-directional (right-to-left) character sets — can be released in a single multilingual release.

• All languages are supported by ANSI and UNICODE AMS versions — provided the target platform supports the target language (e.g. a French version of Windows95 will not sup-port Bi-Directional languages).

• All languages are supported by ANSI and UNICODE AMS versions — provided the brows-er is setup to receive / view the targeted language (e.g. Internet Explorer 5 or higher is required to support viewing of Bi-Directional text.)


Page 12

Supported Development Languages

The generic interception / substitution process used by AMS could virtually allow the lo-calization of any kind of Windows, Web or Java application. Therefore, the following is not an exhaustive list but represents the tool environments for which AMS has been used by customers to date:

• PowerBuilder (Sybase)

• Visual Basic and Visual Basic .NET (Microsoft)

• Developer2000/Forms (Oracle)

• Centura/Team Developer (Gupta)

• Delphi/C++ Builder (Borland)

• AllFusionGen / AllFusionPlex (Computer Associates)

• NatStar / NSDK (NatSystems)

• Progress (Progress)

• C, C++ / MFC

• C# and .NET

• Emulators (5250, 3270, Telnet, etc)

• Business Objects – full client (Business Objects)

• HTTP

• HTML / DHTML

• JavaScript

• VBScript

• Java applications and Java applets

• SSL and TLS

• Adobe Acrobat PDF

• ASP.NET

• XML/XLS

• WebSphere

• NatWeb (NatSystems)

• Lotus Domino (IBM)

• WebIntelligence (Business Object)

• Cognos

• Flash

• XML


Page 13

• ASP

• JSP

• PHP

• SQL Windows (Gupta)

Supported Systems

• Win95

• Win98

• Win2K

• NT

• XP

• ME

• 2K3

• Vista


Page 14

Summary

Rather than forcing developers to rebuild and retest applications in response to foreign-language requirements, AMS leaves Windows and Web-based applications in their tested and signed-off state. As a result, rather than creating a separate version of your software for every foreign language in which it operates, you have a single body of source code to maintain and upgrade. This is a revolutionary 21st Century approach to today’s software localization challenges.

Developing, deploying and managing multilingual applications just got a lot easier. Engineers can focus on new development rather than re-engineering old code. And companies will be able to release localized applications sooner, deploy shipment of original and foreign lan-guage applications simultaneously, gain access to international revenue faster, while improv-ing translation workflow and reducing engineering and support costs considerably.

For more information or to receive an evaluation of AMS, please contact us by phone +1 877 927 7462 or email [email protected]

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Assima’s advanced systems cloning software and specialist professional services are used by large global organizations for Training, Localization and Real Time Performance Support. With Assima technology, organizations have been increasing end-user understanding, confidence and competence in critical enterprise applications since 2002; delivering increased Return on Investment and reducing Total Cost of Ownership.

whitepaper assima multilingual suite for windows … · whitepaper assima multilingual suite for...

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