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Help+Manual Localization and Internationalization

Help+Manual Localization and Internationalization

Help+Manual (homepage) is a Windows-based help authoring tool by EC Software. From one project, it publishes help in several formats, such as HTML Help (CHM), WebHelp, and PDF. Soluling localizes Help+Manual projects.

The end of the document contains links to get the full source code of the samples. After reading this document, we recommend reading a tutorial about how to use Soluling.

What Soluling localizes

Soluling localizes the Help+Manual project in the XML format: a project file (.hmxp) and the topic files (Topics\*.xml), maps, and other files in the same directory. If your project is a single compressed file (.hmxz), save it in Help+Manual as an uncompressed XML project (.hmxp) first.

Soluling reads the project file and all the topics it refers to and extracts the text of the topics. Optionally, Soluling also localizes the Help+Manual variables. When building, Soluling creates a complete localized Help+Manual project for each language. The localized project has the same files and directory structure as the original project, but the topic files contain the translated text. For example, if your original project is source\Sport.hmxp and you localize it to Finnish, Soluling creates fi\Sport.hmxp and fi\Topics\*.xml.

Open the localized project in Help+Manual and publish it in the formats you need. This way, all the output formats of the localized help come from one localized project, just like those of the original help.

Note! Localize the Help+Manual project, not the files that Help+Manual publishes. For example, do not localize the CHM file that Help+Manual creates with Soluling's HTML Help localization.

Desktop process Desktop process

  1. Start Soluling. Drag the project file (e.g., Sport.hmxp) on Soluling or click the New from File or Files button and select the file.
  2. Project Wizard appears. On the Options sheet, check Scan variables if you want to localize the variables, and select how the localized project file is updated (see below).
  3. Select the original language and the target languages, for example, Finnish and Japanese, and complete the wizard.
  4. Translate the project.
  5. Choose Home | Build All to build the localized Help+Manual projects into language-specific directories, for example, fi and ja.
  6. Open each localized project in Help+Manual and publish the localized help.

When you change the original project, open the Soluling project and choose Home | Scan. Soluling keeps the existing translations, and you only translate the text that was added or changed.

Cloud process Cloud process

With Soluling Cloud, you and your translators can translate the help in a browser using Translate. Soluling Cloud cannot read a Help+Manual project itself, so you create the project in Soluling Desktop, upload it to Soluling Cloud, and build the localized projects in Soluling Desktop. You need a Soluling account. See the available Cloud plans.

  1. Create the project in Soluling Desktop as described in Desktop process, and save it. This creates the Soluling project file (.ntp).
  2. On the Translate tab, in the Send and Receive group, click Configure Cloud. Log in with your Soluling account, and click OK to create the cloud project. When Soluling asks whether to upload the local project to the cloud, click Yes, and Yes again to wait until the cloud has processed it.
  3. Click the project's green Translate button on the dashboard (Cloud > Dashboard for Projects, Users and Terminology at www.soluling.com) and translate, or click the project's Manage button and invite a translator for each language.
  4. In Soluling Desktop, on the Translate tab, click Import from Cloud to get the translations, and choose Home | Build All to build the localized Help+Manual projects.

When the original project changes, choose Home | Scan in Soluling Desktop, click Upload to Cloud, translate the new and changed text, and import and build again. See the Cloud tutorial.

Samples

GitHub and <data-dir>\Samples\HelpAndManual contain the following Help+Manual samples:

Directory Description
Sample A simple Help+Manual project. The original project is in the source subdirectory, and the localized Finnish project is in the fi subdirectory. Study this first.
Sport A Help+Manual project about some sports that contains topics and images. The original project is in the source subdirectory, and the localized Finnish and Japanese projects are in the fi and ja subdirectories.

Configuring Help+Manual localization

You can configure how to localize your Help+Manual project by selecting the item in the project tree, right-clicking, and choosing the Options menu. A source dialog appears that lets you edit the options. This source uses the following option sheets.

The Options sheet has the following options:

Option Description
Scan variables If checked, Soluling also localizes the Help+Manual variables. If you check this, do not select Do not overwrite the localized project file as the update mode, because the variables are stored in the project file.
Localized project file update mode Specifies how the localized project file (.hmxp) is handled when building:
  • Overwrite using the original project file: Soluling overwrites the localized project file with the original project file.
  • Merge localized and original project files: Soluling keeps some elements, such as the publishing tasks, of the existing localized project file. Use this if you have set up publishing for each localized project in Help+Manual.
  • Do not overwrite the localized project file: Soluling copies the original project file to the localized output directory only if the localized project file does not exist.

Read more about other document files such as DITA, Help+Manual, HTML, HTML Help, LaTeX, Word, PowerPoint, Markdown, RTF, and PDF files.

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