Help:Extension:Translate/Group configuration

There are many ways of adding message groups to Translate extension. Message groups are collection of messages. Usually they compare to one module in a software and one file (and usually one per language for translations). It is also possible to make groups that include messages from other message groups. For example there can be group that includes all messages in a given software. Groups can also include just subsets of messages, like the most important messages of MediaWiki that should be translated first. These higher level groups do not map directly to files in any particular format, but like all groups they can be exported in Gettext format for use in other translation tools.

Message groups are the high level blocks that translators interact with: to choose a message to work on they first need to select a group, unless they already know the exact name of the message. For each group we can gather statistics and each group has a unique identifier. Naturally, messages are the smallest blocks of text that translators translate one at a time. Each message also has an identifier, which is usually called a key. The key doesn't need to be unique across message groups.

The intention is to migrate all file based message groups to new format based on YAML formatted files. Only MediaWiki core of the premade extensions is not yet migrated, see /MediaWiki/.

Standard group configuration format
It is easy to add message groups using the YAML format. All you need to do is to define a namespace and add a configuration file to ; see the configuration page for more details. Example:

The file itself uses the YAML syntax. The syntax itself is not described here, but it is easy to learn, and all the premade groups can be used as examples. Remember to use spaces instead of tabs for indentation. Each file can define multiple message groups. Each group definition is separated by a line with three dashes, which is the standard document separator in YAML.

Definitions are broken into few top-level items: BASIC, FILES, MANGLER, CHECKER, INSERTABLES, TAGS, AUTOLOAD, LANGUAGES and special TEMPLATE. Some custom groups may add more top-level items. Not all groups need to define all of them.

BASIC
This section contains basic information about the group, like unique id and name. List of possible keys (mandatory keys are marked with *):

Example: BASIC: id: out-freecol label: FreeCol icon: wiki://Freecol.png description: "" namespace: NS_FREECOL class: FileBasedMessageGroup

FILES
This section describes the filesystem layout and format of message files for groups of type FileBasedMessageGroup. List of possible keys (mandatory keys are marked with *):

The path variables are:

Example: FILES: class: JavaFFS sourcePattern: %GROUPROOT%/commonist/messages_%CODE%.properties targetPattern: commonist/messages_%CODE%.properties

MANGLER
Mangler is a way to mungle message keys to avoid conflicting message keys in multiple groups:

Example: MANGLER: class: StringMatcher patterns: - "*"

CHECKER
Checkers run checks on the translated messages. If they find problems, those translations are highlighted for translators.

Example: CHECKER: class: ShapadoMessageChecker checks: - ShapadoVariablesCheck

INSERTABLES
This section allows to define a class which suggests insertables. The classes can be autoloaded as described in the AUTOLOAD section.

INSERTABLES: class: FreeColInsertablesSuggester

TAGS
It is possible to assign tags to messages. Each tag takes list of message keys (after mangling). "*" can be used as wildcard. The following tags are supported:

Example: TAGS: optional: - lang_locale - lang_dir ignored: - charset

AUTOLOAD
This item takes list of class names with filenames as values. This way custom classes can be bundled easily with your custom message groups. The path should be relative to the location of the group configuration file itself. Example: AUTOLOAD: ShapadoMessageChecker: Checker.php

TEMPLATE
There is a handy shortcut if you are defining multiple similar message groups. To avoid repetition, have the first definition start with this key. You can use any other top-level keys as subkeys for this item. All other groups will use these definitions as default values. Each group can of course override the default value from the template.

Example: TEMPLATE: BASIC: namespace: NS_SHAPADO class: FileBasedMessageGroup description: ""

FILES: class: YamlFFS codeAsRoot: 1 codeMap: be-tarask: be-TARASK

GROUPS (for AggregateMessageGroup class)
This key only takes list of group ids this message group consists of. Example: GROUPS: - out-shapado-ads - out-shapado-announcements - out-shapado-answers - out-shapado-badges

Wildcards are supported. In this case the aggregate group will not recursively include itself even it matches a pattern. Example: GROUPS: - out-shapado-*

Wildcards can be problematic if you have nested aggregate groups, because some groups can be included multiple times: both directly and via the included aggregate groups.

LANGUAGES
This key allows white listing and black listing of languages for the group. Blacklisted languages will not be allowed for translation. LANGUAGES: whitelist: - en blacklist: - he   - or

Whitelist overrides any values in the blacklist. If whitelist value is * that means all languages are allowed. Whitelist is also optional.

Message groups for interface messages specific to your wiki
Example of message group for custom user interface of the wiki, for example for localized sidebar. Add the following code into your  and replace wikiname with something meaningful.