NAME
Locale::Maketext::Fuzzy - Maketext from already interpolated strings
SYNOPSIS
package MyApp::L10N;
use base 'Locale::Maketext::Fuzzy'; # instead of Locale::Maketext
package MyApp::L10N::de;
use base 'MyApp::L10N';
our %Lexicon = (
# Exact match should always be preferred if possible
"0 camels were released."
=> "Exact match",
# Fuzzy match candidate
"[quant,_1,camel was,camels were] released."
=> "[quant,_1,Kamel wurde,Kamele wurden] freigegeben.",
# This could also match fuzzily, but is less preferred
"[_2] released[_1]"
=> "[_1][_2] ist frei[_1]",
);
package main;
my $lh = MyApp::L10N->get_handle('de');
# All ->maketext calls below will become ->maketext_fuzzy instead
$lh->override_maketext(1);
# This prints "Exact match"
print $lh->maketext('0 camels were released.');
# "1 Kamel wurde freigegeben." -- quant() gets 1
print $lh->maketext('1 camel was released.');
# "2 Kamele wurden freigegeben." -- quant() gets 2
print $lh->maketext('2 camels were released.');
# "3 Kamele wurden freigegeben." -- parameters are ignored
print $lh->maketext('3 released.');
# "4 Kamele wurden freigegeben." -- normal usage
print $lh->maketext('[*,_1,camel was,camels were] released.', 4);
# "!Perl ist frei!" -- matches the broader one
# Note that the sequence ([_2] before [_1]) is preserved
print $lh->maketext('Perl released!');
DESCRIPTION
This module is a subclass of "Locale::Maketext", with additional support
for localizing messages that already contains interpolated variables.
This is most useful when the messages are returned by external sources
-- for example, to match "dir: command not found" against "[_1]: command
not found".
Of course, this module is also useful if you're simply too lazy to use
the
$lh->maketext("[quant,_1,file,files] deleted.", $count);
syntax, but wish to write
$lh->maketext_fuzzy("$count files deleted");
instead, and have the correct plural form figured out automatically.
If "maketext_fuzzy" seems too long to type for you, this module also
provides a "override_maketext" method to turn *all* "maketext" calls
into "maketext_fuzzy" calls.
METHODS
$lh->maketext_fuzzy(*key*[, *parameters...*]);
That method takes exactly the same arguments as the "maketext" method of
"Locale::Maketext".
If *key* is found in lexicons, it is applied in the same way as
"maketext". Otherwise, it looks at all lexicon entries that could
possibly yield *key*, by turning "[...]" sequences into "(.*?)" and
match the resulting regular expression against *key*.
Once it finds all candidate entries, the longest one replaces the *key*
for the real "maketext" call. Variables matched by its bracket sequences
($1, $2...) are placed before *parameters*; the order of variables in
the matched entry are correctly preserved.
For example, if the matched entry in %Lexicon is "Test [_1]", this call:
$fh->maketext_fuzzy("Test string", "param");
is equivalent to this:
$fh->maketext("Test [_1]", "string", "param");
However, most of the time you won't need to supply *parameters* to a
"maketext_fuzzy" call, since all parameters are already interpolated
into the string.
$lh->override_maketext([*flag*]);
If *flag* is true, this accessor method turns "$lh->maketext" into an
alias for "$lh->maketext_fuzzy", so all consecutive "maketext" calls in
the $lh's packages are automatically fuzzy. A false *flag* restores the
original behaviour. If the flag is not specified, returns the current
status of override; the default is 0 (no overriding).
Note that this call only modifies the symbol table of the *language
class* that $lh belongs to, so other languages are not affected. If you
want to override all language handles in a certain application, try
this:
MyApp::L10N->override_maketext(1);
CAVEATS
* The "longer is better" heuristic to determine the best match is
reasonably good, but could certainly be improved.
* Currently, "[quant,_1,file] deleted" won't match "3 files deleted";
you'll have to write "[quant,_1,file,files] deleted" instead, or
simply use "[_1] file deleted" as the lexicon key and put the
correct plural form handling into the corresponding value.
* When used in combination with "Locale::Maketext::Lexicon"'s "Tie"
backend, all keys would be iterated over each time a fuzzy match is
performed, and may cause serious speed penalty. Patches welcome.
SEE ALSO
Locale::Maketext, Locale::Maketext::Lexicon
HISTORY
This particular module was written to facilitate an *auto-extraction*
layer for Slashcode's *Template Toolkit* provider, based on
"HTML::Parser" and "Template::Parser". It would work like this:
Input | from the [% story.dept %] dept.
Output| [%|loc( story.dept )%]from the [_1] dept.[%END%]
Now, this layer suffers from the same linguistic problems as an ordinary
"Msgcat" or "Gettext" framework does -- what if we want to make ordinals
from "[% story.dept %]" (i.e. "from the 3rd dept."), or expand the
"dept." to "department" / "departments"?
The same problem occurred in RT's web interface, where it had to
localize messages returned by external modules, which may already
contain interpolated variables, e.g. ""Successfully deleted 7 ticket(s)
in 'c:\temp'."".
Since I didn't have the time to refactor "DBI" and "DBI::SearchBuilder",
I devised a "loc_match" method to pre-process their messages into one of
the *candidate strings*, then applied the matched string to "maketext".
Afterwards, I realized that instead of preparing a set of candidate
strings, I could actually match against the original *lexicon file*
(i.e. PO files via "Locale::Maketext::Lexicon"). This is how
"Locale::Maketext::Fuzzy" was born.
AUTHORS
Audrey Tang
CC0 1.0 Universal
To the extent possible under law, 唐鳳 has waived all copyright and
related or neighboring rights to Locale-Maketext-Fuzzy.
This work is published from Taiwan.