I am working on a WinForms application programmed in C# .NET 2.0 and VS2008. I am just about to start translating the app into several languages. Before I start, is it a good idea to use the VS2008 itself for all the localization? Or is it better to use some external tool right away? This is my first .NET app, so I rather ask before I start. What are others using?
All strings used in my app are in resources, so I think the app is ready to be translated.
Thank you, Petr
Who will be localizing it? Most external localization companies have utilities for this. If its yourself or your team the simplest thing is probably to use Visual Studio or something like what's mentioned here to convert it to and from a word doc:
aaron: I will get the translations in Excel files, so I will enter it in VS myself. In this case, I assume using the VS itself is best bet?
I finished the work on a site (REFULOG) and I generated the .resx files for every page (Tools/Generate Local Resource; Make sure you are in design or split mode, otherwise the menu item does not appear). After this I tested the app called Resx Crunch (It is about to come out.) I loaded all the generated .resx files, added the desired languages, made the application copy the values from the default .resx files, so at the end it looked like this:
Default value | DE | ES
-------------------------------
apple |apple | apple
...
I saved the info as a CSV file and I sent it to the translator. When it came back from the translator:
Default value | DE | ES
-------------------------------
apple |Appfel | Manzana
...
I loaded it, Saved As into the application folder, and that was it.
I tried to use other localization tools, but they wante3d to do too much and could not do enough.
So to answer your question: Generate the meta tags & .resx files using Visual Studio and do the translation using some localization tool.