NAME¶

SYNOPSIS¶

DESCRIPTION¶

COMMANDS¶

::msgcat::mc src-string ?arg arg ...?

Returns a translation of src-string according to the user's current locale. If additional arguments past src-string are given, the format command is used to substitute the additional arguments in the translation of src-string.

::msgcat::mcmax ?src-string src-string ...?

Given several source strings, ::msgcat::mcmax returns the length of the longest translated string. This is useful when designing localized GUIs, which may require that all buttons, for example, be a fixed width (which will be the width of the widest button).

::msgcat::mclocale ?newLocale?

This function sets the locale to newLocale. If newLocale is omitted, the current locale is returned, otherwise the current locale is set to newLocale. msgcat stores and compares the locale in a case-insensitive manner, and returns locales in lowercase. The initial locale is determined by the locale specified in the user's environment. See LOCALE SPECIFICATION below for a description of the locale string format.

::msgcat::mcpreferences

Returns an ordered list of the locales preferred by the user, based on the user's language specification. The list is ordered from most specific to least preference. The list is derived from the current locale set in msgcat by ::msgcat::mclocale, and cannot be set independently. For example, if the current locale is en_US_funky, then ::msgcat::mcpreferences returns {en_US_funky en_US en}.

::msgcat::mcload dirname

Searches the specified directory for files that match the language specifications returned by ::msgcat::mcpreferences (note that these are all lowercase), extended by the file extension ``.msg''. Each matching file is read in order, assuming a UTF-8 encoding. The file contents are then evaluated as a Tcl script. This means that Unicode characters may be present in the message file either directly in their UTF-8 encoded form, or by use of the backslash-u quoting recognized by Tcl evaluation. The number of message files which matched the specification and were loaded is returned.

::msgcat::mcset locale src-string ?translate-string?

Sets the translation for src-string to translate-string in the specified locale and the current namespace. If translate-string is not specified, src-string is used for both. The function returns translate-string.

::msgcat::mcmset locale src-trans-list

Sets the translation for multiple source strings in src-trans-list in the specified locale and the current namespace. src-trans-list must have an even number of elements and is in the form { src-string translate-string ?src-string translate-string ...?} ::msgcat::mcmset can be significantly faster than multiple invocations of ::msgcat::mcset. The function returns the number of translations set.

::msgcat::mcunknown locale src-string

This routine is called by ::msgcat::mc in the case when a translation for src-string is not defined in the current locale. The default action is to return src-string. This procedure can be redefined by the application, for example to log error messages for each unknown string. The ::msgcat::mcunknown procedure is invoked at the same stack context as the call to ::msgcat::mc. The return value of ::msgcat::mcunknown is used as the return value for the call to ::msgcat::mc.

LOCALE SPECIFICATION¶

language[_country][.codeset][@modifier]

language[_country][_modifier]

NAMESPACES AND MESSAGE CATALOGS¶

::msgcat::mcset en hello "hello from ::"
namespace eval foo {
    ::msgcat::mcset en hello "hello from ::foo"
}
puts [ ::msgcat::mc hello]
namespace eval foo {puts [ ::msgcat::mc hello]}

hello from ::
hello from ::foo

::msgcat::mcset en m1 ":: message1"
::msgcat::mcset en m2 ":: message2"
::msgcat::mcset en m3 ":: message3"
namespace eval ::foo {
    ::msgcat::mcset en m2 "::foo message2"
    ::msgcat::mcset en m3 "::foo message3"
}
namespace eval ::foo::bar {
    ::msgcat::mcset en m3 "::foo::bar message3"
}
namespace import  ::msgcat::mc
puts "[ mc m1]; [mc m2]; [mc m3]"
namespace eval ::foo {puts "[ mc m1]; [mc m2]; [mc m3]"}
namespace eval ::foo::bar {puts "[ mc m1]; [mc m2]; [mc m3]"}

:: message1; :: message2; :: message3
:: message1; ::foo message2; ::foo message3
:: message1; ::foo message2; ::foo::bar message3

LOCATION AND FORMAT OF MESSAGE FILES¶

[1]

All message files for a package are in the same directory.

[2]

The message file name is a msgcat locale specifier (all lowercase) followed by ``.msg''. For example:

es.msg    -- spanish
en_gb.msg -- United Kingdom English

[3]

The file contains a series of calls to mcset and mcmset, setting the necessary translation strings for the language, likely enclosed in a namespace eval so that all source strings are tied to the namespace of the package. For example, a short es.msg might contain:

namespace eval ::mypackage {
    ::msgcat::mcset es "Free Beer!" "Cerveza Gracias!"
}

RECOMMENDED MESSAGE SETUP FOR PACKAGES¶

[1]

During package installation, create a subdirectory msgs under your package directory.

[2]

Copy your *.msg files into that directory.

[3]

Add the following command to your package initialization script:

# load language files, stored in msgs subdirectory
::msgcat::mcload [file join [file dirname [info script]] msgs]

POSITIONAL CODES FOR FORMAT AND SCAN COMMANDS¶

format "We produced %d units in location %s" $num $city
format "In location %s we produced %d units" $city $num

format "We produced %1\$d units in location %2\$s" $num $city
format "In location %2\$s we produced %1\$d units" $num $city

CREDITS¶

SEE ALSO¶

KEYWORDS¶