Localizing Applications

RAD Studio includes a suite of Translation Tools to facilitate localization and development of .NET and Win32 applications for different locales. The Translation Tools include the following:

Satellite Assembly Wizard (for .NET)
Resource DLL Wizard (for Win32)
Translation Manager
Translation Repository

The Translation Tools are available for Delphi VCL Forms applications (both .NET and Win32), and Win32 console applications, packages, and DLLs. You can access the Translation Tools configuration options by choosing ToolsOptionsTranslation Tools Options.

The Wizards

Before you can use the Translation Manager or Translation Repository, you must add languages to your project by running either the Satellite Assembly Wizard for .NET projects or the Resource DLL Wizard for Win32 projects. The Satellite Assembly Wizard creates a .NET satellite assembly for each language you add. The Resource DLL Wizard creates a Win32 resource DLL for each language. For simplicity, this documentation uses the term resource module to refer to either a satellite assembly or a resource DLL.

While running either wizard, you can include extra files, such as .resx or .rc files, that are not normally part of a project. You can add new resource modules to a project at any time. If you have multiple projects open in the IDE, you can process several at once.

You can also use the wizards to remove languages from a project and restoring languages to a project.

Translation Manager

After resource modules have been added to your project, you can use the Translation Manager to view and edit VCL forms and resource strings. After modifying your translations, you can update all of your application’s resource modules.

The External Translation Manager (ETM) is a version of the Translation Manager that you can set up and use without the IDE. ETM has the same functionality as the Translation Manager, with some additional menus and toolbars.

Translation Repository

The Translation Repository provides a database for translations that can be shared across projects, by different developers. While working in the Translation Manager, you can store translated strings in the Repository and retrieve translated strings from the Repository.

By default, each time your assemblies are updated, they will be populated with translations for any matching strings that exist in the Repository. You can also access the Repository directly, through its own interface, to find, edit, or delete strings.

The Translation Repository stores data in XML format. By default, the file is named default.tmx and is located in the RAD Studio\bin directory.

Files Generated by the Translation Tools

The files generated by the Translation Tools include the following:

File extension	Description
.nfn (.NET) .dfn (Win32)	The Translation Tools maintain a separate file for each form in your application and each target language. These files contain the data (including translated strings) that you see in the Translation Manager.
.resx (.NET)	The Satellite Assembly Wizard uses the compiler-generated .drcil file to create an .resx file for each target language. These .resx files contain special comments that are used by the Translation Tools.
.rc (Win32)	The Resource DLL Wizard uses the compiler-generated .drc file to create an .resx file for each target language. These .resx files contain special comments that are used by the Translation Tools.
.tmx	The Translation Repository stores data in an .tmx file. You can maintain more than one repository by saving multiple .tmx files.
.bdsproj	The External Translation Manager lists the assemblies (languages) and resources to be translated into a .bdsproj project file. When third-party translators add and remove languages from a project, they can save these changes in an .bdsproj file, which they return to the developer.

Note: You should not edit any of these files manually.