Posts in the ResourceBlender Express Category

Nothing major in this release, but some useful additions nonetheless.

• Added: HTML export for resource completion summaries.
• Added: Option to merge then delete unused resources.
• Changed: There's now an option to right click an application and generate resources for it.
• Fixed: Bug which caused chart for resource completion summary to sometimes show with zero height.

There are several tweaks and features you may find useful in 1.44.

• Added: Option to open the output directory or zip file completion when generating resources.
• Added: Option to output an additional file for each bundle identical to the default language.
• Added: Conflict detection to Duplicate Resources with list of languages which have conflicting translations.
• Added: Search While Typing checkbox to resource finder.
• Added: Button to search for existing resources before creating an element.
• Changed: Resources can now be selected by double clicking in the search dialog.
• Changed: When merging duplicate resources, the preferred resource - the one which will be kept in case of conflicts, can now be selected.
• Fixed: Crash when creating an element, the default language was not entered. Thanks Alemarko.

ResourceBlender has been released under the GPL and is now available open-source!

This means the entire source is available for download and contribution. Both ResourceBlender Express (WPF) and ResourceBlender.NET (ASP.NET) are now on CodePlex under a GPL license.

Contributions to the source are actively encouraged and I'd really love for people to contribute, just ask in the forums for permission or post a patch. The source code is in need of some refactoring, I'm currently in the process of moving a lot of the in-line SQL to a separate file and splitting the data access layer. This will need to be reflected in both versions before I add any more features as the code is becoming difficult to manage. It won't be difficult, but there's a lot of code to refactor and I'm only one person.

Update - 23rd Aug 2009: The majority of splitting the data access code has been completed, but I'd welcome any tips or advice on best practices and methods related to any part ofthe source.

• ResourceBlender.NET on CodeProject
• ResourceBlender.NET Source Repository
• ResourceBlender Express on CodeProject
• ResourceBlender Express Source Repository

Lots new in 1.40, including a standalone Resx (.NET managed resource) file editor and a quicker method of adding elements while translating. The Google translator has been updated as well to reflect their newest supported languages.

There's also a minor database schema change, so if you're upgrading you need to backup first. If you're using ResourceBlender.NET and Express together, you'll also need to upgrade to ResourceBlender.NET 1.56.

For safety reasons, no database tables will be deleted during installation, so you'll either need to delete them manually or use a different table prefix.

• Added: Resx file editor.
• Added: Bulk add elements and resources.
• Added: Option to escape unicode characters (with code points above 127) to prevent the need to run native2ascii when generating .properties bundles.
• Added: Option to treat files without a language code in the filename as the default language.
• Added: Option to add languages not currently used by an application when importing resources.
• Added: A sample application when ResourceBlender is installed to show core functionality.
• Added: Option to show completion of resources from languages not used by an application when viewing a resource summary.
• Changed: When filters are applied in the resources grid, editing a resource no longer resets the filters.
• Changed: RBT files can now be opened by specifying them as a command line argument. The install creates a file assosication by default.
• Changed: Updating of the output filename is now more fluid when generating resources.
• Updated: Google Translation API supported languages to include Albanian, Estonian, Galician, Hungarian, Maltese, Thai and Turkish.
• Fixed: When importing from .properties, if a file used CR+LF line breaks, the \r was not removed.

This release makes it easier for translators by adding a file format and editor which allows translators to edit more easily. It should make it more inviting for a translator to volunteer.

• Added: RBT file (translation database) format to make life easier for translators.
• Added: Shortcut keys and usability improvements throughout.
• Added: Option to clear settings.
• Added: Splash screen.
• Changed: Progress is now shown when exporting.
• Changed: If the database settings are changed after the program has been installed, tables will now be created if required.
• Changed: Translations for a resource can be deleted by leaving the translation field blank.
• Changed: When importing, multiple files can now be specified. If some of the files are zip archives they will be extracted before import.
• Changed: The database path/server address is now shown in the main window status bar.
• Fixed: Icons were only shown in one menu in the main window. This has been fixed.

There are lots of additions and usability improvements in version 1.30. The same features are now supported by ResourceBlender Express and ResourceBlender.NET. Notable features are bulk auto-translation and resource summary graphs.

• Added: Bulk automatic translation.
• Added: Multiple application export to XML spreadsheet.
• Added: Create Variant dialog.
• Added: Resource Summary graphs.
• Added: PO file meta data editor.
• Added: Next/Previous element buttons when translating.
• Added: Icons to resource types when exporting and flags to language selection dialog boxes.
• Changed: Chinese Simpilfied and Traditional are now recognized when automatically translating.
• Changed: The inputs for a translation are now disabled when an automatic translation request is in progress.
• Changed: Shortcut keys can now be used when editing an element.
• Changed: When adding/editing an element, the sort order of the grid is now retained when saving.
• Fixed: Bug when importing PO files which caused the import to fail if two untranslated strings with plurals shared the same first 15 characters.

There's loads of new functionality in 1.20, including support for custom resource templates, maintenance tools like a duplicate and unused resource finder and automatic translation with Google Translate.

• Added: One click machine translation using Google Translate.
• Added: Unused resource finder.
• Added: Duplicate resource finder.
• Added: Templates for custom resource formats.
• Added: Column sorting to resources grid.
• Added: Help file.
• Added: Filters to resources grid.
• Changed: If a translation is too long to fit in the column in the resources grid, a tooltip is now displayed and the text is shown with an ellipse instead of being truncated.
• Changed: The number of resources displayed is now shown in the resources grid.
• Changed: When there is only one language in an application, the expander for other languages is now hidden when editing elements.
• Changed: When merging resources, translator comments are also merged.

A lot has been added in this version. The UI looks nicer and more of the features from ResourceBlender.NET have been ported over.

Existing resource files can be imported, and backups can be imported/exported between both versions.

• Added: Find Resources dialog.
• Added: Import from existing .properties, .resx and .po files.
• Added: Button to Edit Element form to show fields in a larger editor.
• Added: Translator comments to each translation.
• Added: Backup & Restore to XML.
• Added: Option to zip files or output them unzipped.
• Added: Nicer message dialogs.
• Added: Context menus.
• Added: Icons to buttons.
• Added: Status bars throughout the application to notify when database operations are in progress.
• Changed: Row colours on the elements grid now alternate to make distinguishing rows easier.
• Changed: Quick edit buttons on resource summary window are now disabled when an application contains no bundles or languages.
• Changed: Scrolling the application summary is now smoother.
• Fixed: Editing resources for an application where the only language is a custom language code no longer generates an error.

The first release of ResourceBlender Express is available. It's written in WPF and, like the ASP.NET version, it supports editing of resources and translations. Currently only a very basic sub-set of the features provided by ResourceBlender for ASP.NET is implemented in ResourceBlender Express. The feature set will be expanded over the next few months.