Intermediate file format for extraction and merge

Overview

The localize tool uses a intermediate file format (so called SDF) as storage for context information and strings and messages. It supports storage of strings and messages which are declared in different file formats.

Supported source file types

The following table shows the different supported source file types. The extracted context information out of this source files and also strings and messages are stored in the intermediate file format for the UI localization process.

File Type	Extension	Explanation
Resource Definition	src, hrc	OpenOffice.org resource system. Includes dialogs, menus, strings, and messages.
Setup Definition	ulf	String and message definitions for the setup program.
XML Types	xcu,xrm,xhp	XML formats for the configuration, readme and online help

Intermediate file format

Encoding

The encoding inside a SDF file is UTF8 for all languages. This is independent to the encoding inside the different source file types.

Line format

Each line of a SDF file contains the context information and a string or message in one language. The different fields inside a line are separated by tab.
The following table shows the different fields inside a single line of a SDF file. Fields which have to be translated are marked red.

Field	Explanation
Project	The module where the source file is located.
Source File	The path of source file, starting at the module root.
Dummy	This information is obsolete, and is only included to remain compatible with older versions.
Resource Type	Type of resource for which the text is defined. For example, dialog box, tab page, message box, string, and so on.
GroupId	Symbolic identifier for the string.
LocalId	Symbolic identifier for the string.
HelpId	Unique identifier that identifies a window control.
Platform	Part of the symbolic identifer
Width	Width of the resource. Only used for some strings and messages inside src and hrc files.
LanguageId	The symbolic iso code representation of the text language
Text	The text.
HelpText	This information is obsolete, and is only included to remain compatible with older versions.
QuickHelpText	Some resources include QuickHelpText, which is displayed in the office suite user interface.
Title	The title for some resources, such as dialog boxes, message boxes, and so on.
Time stamp	Creation date and time of this line

Alignment of lines

A SDF file could contain several different languages. The different translations of a string or message (each represented in a single line) are aligned as follows:

String 1/Language 1
String 1/Language 2
...
String 1/Language n
String 2/Language 1
String 2/Language 2
...
String 2/Language n
String m/Language 1
String m/Language 2
...
String m/Language n