An Introduction to XLIFF The XML Localisation Interchange

An Introduction to XLIFF The XML Localisation Interchange File Format Slide 1

Agenda • Overview of Open Standards Benefits, drawbacks and development process Survey of Localisation Standards TMS, TBX, Open. Tag • Overview of XLIFF 1. 0 • Architecture • The Real World • Current State of Affairs Definition, goals, and benefits of XLIFF Business Use Cases Brief history of XLIFF Main features of XLIFF 1. 0 Example of using XLIFF Tools support for XLIFF 1. 0 XLIFF 1. 1 – What’s new Work at OASIS on XLIFF Slide 2

Industry Standards Overview A little bit about “Standards”… Slide 3

Definition of a “Standard” is. . . A definition or format that has been approved by a recognized standards organization or is accepted as a de facto standard by the industry. Standards exist for programming languages, operating systems, data formats, communications protocols, and electrical interfaces* * Definition by www. webopedia. com Slide 4

Standards are created by. . . • Default acceptance of private specifications by the market • Government regulation via state regulatory agency or public utility • Formal standardisation via consensus body or committee Slide 5

Categories of Standards • Units, reference, definition- temperature, weights, lengths, volumes, etc. • Similarity - screw gauges, character sets, colour schemes, UNIX operating system • Compatibility - API’s, UI’s, nuts and bolts, hand tools and implements, radio transmitter & radio, modem standards (v 32, v 34), XLIFF 1. 0 • Etiquette - The IETF Internet draft Protocol Extension Protocol (PEP), designed to accommodate extensions of applications such as HTTP clients, servers and proxies, 3 G Slide 6

Further Reading on Standards… • The Role of Standards in Today’s Society and in the Future, Dr. Carl Cargill, Director – Corporate Standards, Sun Microsystems. Inc: http: //www. house. gov/science/cargill_091300. htm • The Business of Open-Source Software, Frank Hecker, Originally published May 1998, revised 20 June 2000: http: //www. hecker. org/writings/setting-up-shop. html • Standards Making: Behind the Scenes, Don Deutsch: http: //otn. oracle. com/oramag/webcolumns/20 03/opinion/deutsch_opinion. html Slide 7

XLIFF 1. 0 Overview A glance at the definitions, goals and benefits of the XML Localisation Interchange File Format. Slide 8

What is XLIFF? • A specification • for the lossless interchange of localizable data and its related information, • which is tool-neutral, • has been formalized as an XML vocabulary (document type definition), • and features an extensibility mechanism. Slide 9

XLIFF TC’s Charter “The purpose of the OASIS XLIFF TC is to define, through XML vocabularies, an extensible specification for the interchange of localization information. The specification will provide the ability to mark up and capture localizable data and interoperate with different processes or phases without loss of information. The vocabularies will be tool-neutral, support the localization-related aspects of internationalization and the entire localization process. The vocabularies will support common software and content data formats. The specification will provide an extensibility mechanism to allow the development of tools compatible with an implementer's own proprietary data formats and workflow requirements. ” Slide 10

Why XLIFF is Needed? Localization offers the following challenges: • Insufficient interoperability between tools. • Lack of support for overall localization workflow. • Necessity of localization tools developers to deal with many formats. • Large number of proprietary intermediate formats. Slide 11

Advantages – Localization Customer • Single format for adjunct processing (e. g. quality control in terms of spell checking). • Less dependency on vendors which are able to work with special formats. • Tighter control on what goes to localization (Pre-filtering of what to translate or not). • Controlled information flow (author/developer notes, item properties, etc. ). • ID-based leveraging. • All advantages of XML-based processing. Slide 12

Advantages – Tools Vendor • Focus on development of core functionality rather treatment of source format. • Allow usage of tools in new contexts. • All advantages of XML-based processing. Slide 13

Advantages – Service Provider • Single format for adjunct processing (e. g. quality control in terms of spell checking). • Less dependency on specific localization tools. • Controlled information flow (author/developer notes, item properties, etc. ). • Allow usage of tools in new contexts. • All advantages of XML-based processing. • Open and standard solution for proprietary formats. Slide 14

Advantages – Technology (1/2) • For a given utility, only one implementation is necessary (e. g. not one spell checker for RTF, and another one for HTML). • Increases usability of utilities (i. e. all formats with XLIFF filters can be used with XLIFFenabled utilities). Slide 15

Advantages – Technology (2/2) • All advantages of XML-based processing: – Use of its internationalization features. – Better interoperability and cross-platform support. – Powerful rendering options (XSL-FO, CSS). – Powerful transformation options (XSLT). – Greater integration with Web services. • Access to existing, and often open-source, XML implementation (lower costs). Slide 16

Basic Use Case – without XLIFF Native File 1 (e. g. , HTML) Native File 2 (e. g. , Java Files) Developer Applications Customer Specific Tool (s) Native File 3 (e. g. , Java Properties) Native File n Publisher/ Customer Domain Localisation Domain Tool Resource Filters Slide 17 Translator

Basic Use Case –with XLIFF Direct to XLIFF authoring XLIFF compliant Developer Applications - OR - Pre-processing HTML XLIFF file(s) containing Compliant HTML, Java, Properties, etc Editor translatable resources Translator RC Data Java Non XLIFF Properties compliant Developer Applications Publisher/ Customer Domain Localisation Domain Slide 18

Simple Automated Localisation Use Case Pseudo Translate / Test XLIFF Translation Kit Defect Report Generate XLIFF 100% Translated Requires Translation 0% Translated Leverage Translation Repository Developer Localization Engineer XLIFF Editor Update 100% Translated XLIFF Translation Kit Slide 19 Translator

Automated Localisation with CAT Use Case XLIFF Translation Kit Pseudo Translate / Test Defect Report Requires Translation 100% Translated Generate XLIFF 0% Translated 100% match Fuzzy match Machine Translate Translation Repository Developer Translation Memory Machine Translation Localization Engineer XLIFF Editor Update 100% Translated XLIFF Translation Kit Slide 20 Translator

Genesis of XLIFF • Founded: Sept 2000 • Founding Members: Novell, Oracle and Sun • Initially named “Data. Definition” group Slide 21

XLIFF 1. 0 Timeline • • • September 2000 - Data. Definition Kickoff December 2000 - first face to face March 2001 - second face to face End March 2001 - draft 1. 0 spec and DTD published June 2001 - White Paper published December 2001 - OASIS XLIFF Technical Committee Proposal submitted • April 2002 – XLIFF 1. 0 Specification approved by formal vote as an OASIS Committee Specification Slide 22

OASIS: A New Home for XLIFF • OASIS: Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards • World’s largest independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the standardisation of XML applications and Web Services • More than 150 member companies plus individuals • Operates XML. ORG Registry, the open community clearinghouse of XML application schemas • Technical work on XML interoperability includes XML conformance and XML Registries/Repositories • General XML technical resource Slide 23

Drivers Behind XLIFF ü Alchemy Software ü Bowne Global Solutions ü Convey Software ü Ektron, Inc ü Globalsight ü HP ü Lotus/IBM ü Lionbridge ü LRC ü Moravia IT ü Novell ü Oracle ü Microsoft ü RWS Group ü SAP ü SDL International ü Sun Microsystems ü Tektronix Slide 24

Present OASIS XLIFF TC • • TC Officers: – TC Chair: Tony Jewtushenko, Oracle Corporation – TC Vice-Chair: Jonathan Clark, Lionbidge – TC Secretary: Peter Reynolds, Bowne Global Solutions – TC Editor: Yves Savourel Current Members of TC: • • • • Gérard Cattin des Bois, Microsoft Doug Domeny Mirek Driml, Moravia-IT Milan Karásek, Moravia-IT Mark Levins, IBM/Lotus Christian Lieske, SAP Mat Lovatt, Oracle Enda Mc. Donnell David Pooley, SDL John Reid, Novell Reinhard Schaler, LRC Bryan Schnabel, Tektronix Shigemichi Yazawa Slide 25

XLIFF TC in the Community • Shared interests with the OSCAR SIG at LISA – Segmentation and word-count. – Content markup (inline codes). • Shared interests with the W 3 C i 18 n WG – Localization directives. – Best practices. – In the localization aspects of the W 3 C. recommendations. – Web services. Slide 26

Architecture A look at XLIFF’s main features and how they work together. Slide 27

Extract-Localize-Merge Paradigm • Separate data related to localization from parts not related to localization. • Merge translated data with codes at the end of the process to create the final document. • Skeleton file is optional, so this paradigm is also optional Slide 28

A Birds-Eyes View 1. 2. 3. 4. An XLIFF document can capture anything needed for a localization project: Localizable objects (e. g. text strings) in source and target languages. Supplementary information (e. g. glossaries, or material to recreate the original format). Administrative information (e. g. workflow data). Custom data (e. g. initialization information for tools). Slide 29

The XLIFF Document • An XLIFF document is designed to store the extracted data related to localization. • Each given source container (e. g. a file, a database table, and so forth) corresponds to a element in XLIFF. • Each XLIFF document can include several elements. • A whole localization project can possibly be stored in a single XLIFF document. Slide 30

Bilingual Model • Each element is designed to store one source language and one target language. • The rational is that the translation of different target language is done by different people most of the time. • However, languages in element can be different. For example, proposed matches in national Portuguese when translating into Brazilian Portuguese. Slide 31

Localizable Objects – Overview • XLIFF allows not only text string as localizable object but also other object types such as graphics. • Supplementary information can be represented in a generic way through inline codes (e. g. formatting of text). • Relationship between object can be captured (e. g. all items in a menu). Slide 32

Localizable Objects – Text Extracted text goes in translation units (), in a element. The translation will go into a element. Cancel Annuler Slide 33

Localizable Objects – Inline Codes (1/3) Supplementary information for translation units (e. g. formatting, links, image references, etc. ) can be encapsulated, using a set of elements (, , , and ) very similar to the ones used in TMX. Text in < b>bold&; lt; /b>. Slide 34

Localizable Objects – Inline Codes (2/3) Supplementary information can also be stored in the Skeleton; in this case, placeholders elements (, , , ), like the ones used in Open. Tag, are inserted in the translation units. Text in fat cat sleeps soundly. Slide 36

Localizable Objects – Non-Textual Non-textual objects such as bitmap, cursor, etc. can be stored in the XLIFF document, internally or externally), using a element. Slide 37

Localizable Objects – Relationships Relations between objects can be captured by the mean of the element. (note: a can also contain another ). & File. . . E& xit Slide 38

Supplementary Info – Overview • XLIFF provides “hooks” for storing supplementary information (for example to glossaries or translation memories which should be used). • The supplementary information can be referenced (i. e. reside outside of the document), or embedded within the document. Slide 39

Supplementary Info – References Pointers to reference material such as TMs or glossaries can be listed in the

Supplementary Info – References (2/2) Alternatively, the reference material can also be stored directly in the XLIFF document. .

Supplementary Info – Skeleton Non-localizable parts can be references in Skeleton files, which can be referenced from within the XLIFF document. .

Supplementary Info – Skeleton (2/2) The Skeleton content can also be embedded in the XLIFF document itself. .

Administrative Info – Overview XLIFF provides mechanisms for capturing administrative information: • For relating source material to XLIFF documents. • For storing workflow data. • For providing pre-translation entries. • For keeping track of changes. Slide 44

Administrative Info – Source First, define what is in the document, and how it relates to the source.

Administrative Info – Workflow (1/2) Simple data about the steps of the process for each element can be stored in its

Administrative Info – Workflow (2/2) Reference to the different phases can be set in the different items of the element (for example: where this edit came from? etc. ) The text Le texte Un texte Slide 47

Administrative Info – Pre-Leveraging A set of proposed translation can be included for each element, using the element. The text Le texte Slide 48

Administrative Info – Tracking Changes Modifications made during the course of the process (translation, edit, proof, review, etc. ), can also be stored using . The text Le texte Un texte Slide 49

Custom Data Use the element and the ts attribute to store user-defined information. Some property data Text Slide 50

The Real World A look at some concrete examples on how XLIFF can be used in localization projects. Slide 51

Streamlining L 10 n Files Exchanges Localization Vendor Localization Customer INC HLP INS ZINC CSV RC NLM DOC LANG DOC MC ASD DB EN HGFF MSG AGENT LANG XSF VBN SHL TFD PARA ICS MDB LDI CAT FIL XLIFF CAT MENU XRDB HTML CFG PCT PROP. INI. EXE. JAVA. XSL. TXT. . DLL C++ XML Vendor Localization Process Localization Vendor Localization Customer INC HLP INS ZINC CSV RC NLM DOC MC ASD LANG MSG DB EN HGFF AGENT LANG XSF VBN SHL TFD PARA ICS MDB LDI CAT FIL CAT MENU XRDB XLIFF HTML CFG PCT PROP. INI. EXE. JAVA. XSL. TXT. . DLL C++ XML Localization Preprocessor Pre-translated Proprietary Format File Localization Vendor Localization Customer INC HLP INS ZINC CSV RC NLM DOC LANG DOC MC ASD MSG DB EN HGFF LANG XSF VBN AGENT ICS SHL TFD PARA MDB LDI CAT FIL CAT MENU XRDB XLIFF CFG PCT PROP HTML. INI. EXE. JAVA. XSL. TXT. . DLL C++ XML Localization Preprocessor Customer Supported Localization Tool XLIFF Any tools based on XLIFF Industry Standard Slide 52

Concrete Examples • Before – Windows Executable file – Java Properties file • After – Extracted Executable file in XLIFF – Extracted Java Properties file in XLIFF Slide 53

Benefits: Use of XML Technologies • XSL can be used to perform many tasks on XLIFF documents, for example: – Display translatable content in Web browser. – Generate statistics (e. g. number of localizable objects). • Availability of many XML engines makes using XLIFF easy. – Content-related checks (e. g. that certain characters do not appear as textual contents) can be performed with ordinary Web browsers. Slide 54

XML-Enabled Translation Tools • Any XML-enabled translation tool can work with an XLIFF document, as long as the text to translate is initially copied in the elements. However, this does not mean it supports all XLIFF features, but just permits translation of content. • Many tools cannot handle conditional translation (for example: ). Then, you need to add extra elements temporarily. Slide 55

Case Study – DGW+Elcano (1/2) • IBM’s Lotus Domino Global Work. Bench (DGW) version 6 is an application used to localize Domino Web applications and Notes database applications. – The localizable text from Notes/Domino *. nsf and *. ntf formats is extracted into a Notes-based glossary application. – DGW 6 now supports XLIFF export and import. – Translation step previously required a Notes installation and translation in a restrictive commadelimited text file. Slide 56

Case Study – DGW+Elcano (2/2) • Elcano (Bowne Global Solutions) recently developed a Translation Web Service using XLIFF for translation content. – Domino Global Work. Bench glossary application calls directly to the Elcano Web Service. —To submit jobs for translation. —To check job status. —To receive translated jobs & import into glossary. – Allows DGW 6 users fast and convenient access to efficient, high quality human translation Slide 57

3 rd Party Tools Support for XLIFF 1. 0 • RWS Group (to be demo’d): Extraction Utility for RC Data and Java Properties to XLIFF 1. 1 http: //dotnet. goglobalnow. net/ Various Utilities: http: //www. translate. com/shared/tools • Alchemy Software (to be demo’d) - Catalyst 6. 0 – Visual XLIFF 1. 1 Editor http: //www. alchemysoftware. ie • XML-Intl (to be demo’d): XLIFF Editor http: //www. xml-intl. com • Heartsome (to be demo’d) XLIFF Editor: http: //www. heartsome. org • SDL International: SDLX support for XLIFF currently in development. See http: //www. sdlx. com for more information. • Trados: No direct XLIFF support, but can edit XLIFF files using modified INI file (will demo Workbench with INI file setting) • PASS: (to be demo’d) Passolo Editor, http: //www. passolo. com • Bowne Global Solutions: Elcano, Online Translation Service has a web service based connector for XLIFF files http: //elcano. bowneglobal. com Slide 58

More Tools Support for XLIFF 1. 0 • Oracle (to be demo’d): Hyper. Hub: Internal Tool for editing Oracle based data contained in XLIFF archives • IBM: Domino Global Workbench Version 6 (http: //www 6. software. ibm. com/devcon/docs/ dwkbbet 6. htm) • Sun : Internal XLIFF Editor as described in this article: http: //www. sun. com/developers/gadc/technicalpu blications/articles/xliff. html • Open Source XSLT Tools: http: //sourceforge. net/project/showfiles. php? grou p_id=42949&release_id=67485 Slide 59

Current State of Affairs A look at the work under way at the OASIS XLIFF TC, the future, etc. Slide 60

Current State of Affairs – Versions • XLIFF version 1. 0 released as an OASIS TC specification in April 2002 and is used today by various companies. • XLIFF 1. 1 was approved as Committee Specification on 20 May 2003 Slide 61

Current State of Affairs – To Do • Specification of canonical representation in XLIFF of some formats (e. g. Windows resources, Java properties), so all XLIFF representations are the same regardless which tool created the document. • Translation/Localization tools that support XLIFF out-of-the-box (not just as another XML format). • Open Source filters (e. g. to convert from Windows message catalogues to XLIFF). Slide 62

Overview of Changes from 1. 0 -> 1. 1 • Validation by Schema (XSD) • Extending XLIFF elements, attribute values • Embedding XLIFF in XML documents • Changed, added or deprecated 1. 0 features Slide 63

Validation by Schema (XSD) • In 1. 0, validation by DTD • In 1. 1, validation by XML Schema – XSD • XSD provides better control over XML document: – Structure – structured order can be specified – Content – support for standard datatypes like date – Semantics – can specify range of valid values or pattern – Support for namespace Slide 64

Extending Elements • Extension points in the following elements: –

Example of Extending Elements in XLIFF • Example of Extended XLIFF file • Example of private namespace schema Slide 66

Extending Attributes • Attributes of a namespace different than XLIFF can be included in these XLIFF elements: – , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and • No specific location where to insert the non. XLIFF attributes • No limit to the number of non-XLIFF attributes that can be used in an XLIFF document Slide 67

Example of Extending Attributes • attributes from the XHTML vocabulary extend the and • Click for Example… Slide 68

Extending Attribute Values • Attributes where the list of values can be extended are the following: context-type, count-type, ctype, datatype, mtype, restype, size-unit, state, unit, priority, and purpose • User-defined values must start with a “x-” prefix • There is no specified mechanism to validate individual user-defined values, beyond starting with “x-” Slide 69

Example of Extending Attribute Values • The following excerpt shows how the user -defined value x-for-engineer can be utilized in a document: . . . Data. . . . . . Slide 70

Validating Extensions • Add the schema. Location attribute of the XML schema-instance namespace to define what schemas to use to validate: . . . Slide 71

Embedding XLIFF • Can embed an entire or part of an XLIFF doc in other XML doc • XML defined by XML Schema (XSD) that includes an element in the definition of the element where the XLIFF data can be inserted Slide 72

Example of Embedding XLIFF • The following XSD excerpt illustrates the case of an element type data. Block. Type that can contain zero, one or more XLIFF constructs after a mandatory element: . . . . . . Slide 73

Deprecated or changed 1. 0 • • • reformat – feature changed tool attribute becomes tool element new tool-id attribute ts, prop / prop-group - deprecated header was required, now optional default –can specify default values for given scope Slide 74

Reformat • • 1. 0 supported values of “yes” or “no”, which wasn’t granular enough 1. 1 supports the following values: – “yes" = all format attributes may be changed – "no" = no format attributes may be changed. . . or a semicolon-delimited list of the following in any order. If an attribute is listed, it means it may be reformatted. • coord = all 4 coords, coord-x, coord-y, coord-cx, coord-cy, font = all 3 font values, font-name, font-size, font-weight, css-style, exstyle, Example: . . . . . . . . . . . . Slide 75

Tool Element • Tool attribute promoted to element in 1. 1 …

New tool-id attribute • Replaces tool attribute where it was defined • Points to defined in

Deprecated features • ts, prop / prop-group , but can use private namespace extensions to customise elements, attributes, attrib values • tool attribute deprecated, but richer feature set using element and tool-id attribute Slide 78

Default Attribute Value • These attributes added to so that default value can be set with scope across entire group: charclass maxbytes maxheight maxwidth minbytes minheight minwidth size-unit translate reformat • Example, where maxwidth default set across entire group, except for trans-unit 4: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slide 79

More Information • The XLIFF TC Web Site: http: //www. xliff. org • Presenter: – XLIFF TC Chair: Tony Jewtushenko (Oracle) (tony. jewtushenko@oracle. com) • Significant Contributors to this Presentation: – Christian Lieske, (SAP) (christian. lieske@sap. com) – Yves Savourel (RWS Group) (ysavourel@translate. com) Slide 80

That’s it. . . Any Questions? Slide 81