--- loncom/localize/lonlocal.pm	2003/09/20 17:44:22	1.9
+++ loncom/localize/lonlocal.pm	2003/09/22 18:16:43	1.10
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The LearningOnline Network with CAPA
 # Localization routines
 #
-# $Id: lonlocal.pm,v 1.9 2003/09/20 17:44:22 www Exp $
+# $Id: lonlocal.pm,v 1.10 2003/09/22 18:16:43 bowersj2 Exp $
 #
 # Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees
 #
@@ -28,6 +28,141 @@
 ######################################################################
 ######################################################################
 
+=pod
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+Apache::lonlocal - provides localization services
+
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+lonlocal provides localization services for LON-CAPA programmers based
+on Locale::Maketext. See
+C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Locale-Maketext/lib/Locale/Maketext.pod>
+for more information on Maketext.
+
+=head1 OVERVIEWX<internationalization>
+
+As of LON-CAPA 1.1, we've started to localize LON-CAPA using the
+Locale::Maketext module. Internationalization is the bulk of the work
+right now (pre-1.1); localizing can be done anytime, and involves 
+little or no programming.
+
+The internationalization process involves putting a wrapper around
+on-screen user messages and menus and turning them into keys,
+which the MaketextX<Maketext> library translates into the desired
+language output using a look-up table ("lexicon").X<lexicon>
+
+As keys we are currently using the plain English messages, and
+Maketext is configured to replace the message by its own key if no
+translation is found. This makes it easy to phase in the
+internationalization without disturbing the screen output.
+
+Internationalization is somewhat tedious and effectively impossible
+for a non-fluent speaker to perform, but is fairly easy to create
+translations, requiring no programming skill. As a result, this is one
+area where you can really help LON-CAPA out, even if you aren't a
+programmer, and we'd really appreciate it.
+
+=head1 How To Localize Handlers For Programmers
+
+Into the "use" section of a module, we need to insert
+
+ use Apache::lonlocal;
+
+Note that there are B<no parentheses>, we B<want> to pollute our
+namespace. 
+
+Inside might be something like this
+
+ sub message {
+     my $status=shift;
+     my $message='Status unknown';
+     if ($status eq 'WON') {
+        $message='You have won.';
+     } elsif ($status eq 'LOST') {
+        $message='You are a total looser.';
+     }
+     return $message;
+ }
+ ...
+ $r->print('<h3>Gamble your Homework Points</h3>');
+ ...
+ $r->print(<<ENDMSG);
+ <font size="1">Rules:</font>
+ <font size="0">No purchase necessary. Illegal where not allowed.</font>
+ ENDMSG
+
+We have to now wrap the subroutine &mt()X<mt> ("maketext") around our 
+messages, but not around markup, etc. We also want minimal disturbance. 
+The first two examples are easy:
+
+ sub message {
+     my $status=shift;
+     my $message='Status unknown';
+     if ($status eq 'WON') {
+        $message='You have won.';
+     } elsif ($status eq 'LOST') {
+        $message='You are a total looser.';
+     }
+     return &mt($message);
+ }
+ ...
+ $r->print('<h3>'.&mt('Gamble your Homework Points').'</h3>');
+
+The last one is a bummer, since you cannot call subroutines inside of 
+(<<MARKER). I have written a little subroutine to generate a translated 
+hash for that purpose:
+
+ my %lt=&Apache::lonlocal::texthash('header' => 'Rules', 'disclaimer' => 
+ 'No purchase necessary. Illegal where not allowed.');
+ $r->print(<<ENDMSG);
+ <font size="1">$lt{'header'}:</font>
+ <font size="0">$lt{'disclaimer'}</font>
+ ENDMSG
+
+As a programmer, your job is done here. If everything worked, you 
+should see no changes on the screen.
+
+=head1 How To Localize LON-CAPA for Translators
+
+As a translator, you need to provide the lexicon for the keys, which in 
+this case is the plain text message. The lexicons sit in 
+loncom/localize/localize, with the language code as filename, for 
+example de.pm for the German translation. The file then simply looks 
+like this:
+
+    'You have won.'
+ => 'Sie haben gewonnen.',
+
+    'You are a total looser.'
+ => 'Sie sind der totale Verlierer.',
+
+    'Rules'
+ => 'Regeln',
+
+    'No purchase necessary. Illegal where not allowed.'
+ => 'Es ist erlaubt, einfach zu verlieren, und das ist Ihre Schuld.'
+
+The German translation lexicon is in pretty okay shape, but not 
+complete yet. Portuguese currently only covers the login screen. 
+Russian is purely experimental. Looks like UTF-8 is the way to encode 
+this, at least for latin/greek-based languages, but we still have to 
+learn a lot.
+
+Comments may be added with the # symbol, which outside of a string
+(the things with the apostrophe surrounding them, which are the 
+keys and translations) will cause the translation routines to
+ignore the rest of the line.
+
+This is a relatively easy task, and any help is appreciated.
+
+Maketext can do a whole lot more, see
+C<http://search.cpan.org/dist/Locale-Maketext/lib/Locale/Maketext.pod>
+but for most purposes, we do not have to mess with that.
+
+=cut
+
 package Apache::lonlocal;
 
 use strict;