QTranslator Class Reference
^{[QtCore module]}

Detailed Description

The QTranslator class provides internationalization support for text output.

An object of this class contains a set of translations from a source language to a target language. QTranslator provides functions to look up translations in a translation file. Translation files are created using Qt Linguist.

The most common use of QTranslator is to: load a translation file, install it using QApplication::installTranslator(), and use it via QObject::tr(). Here's the main() function from the Hello tr() example:

    int main(int argc, char *argv[])
    {
        QApplication app(argc, argv);

        QTranslator translator;
        translator.load("hellotr_la");
        app.installTranslator(&translator);

        QPushButton hello(QPushButton::tr("Hello world!"));
        hello.resize(100, 30);

        hello.show();
        return app.exec();
    }

Note that the translator must be created before the application's widgets.

Most applications will never need to do anything else with this class. The other functions provided by this class are useful for applications that work on translator files.

It is possible to lookup a translation using translate() (as tr() and QApplication::translate() do). The translate() function takes up to three parameters:

• The context - usually the class name for the tr() caller.
• The source text - usually the argument to tr().
• The comment - an optional comment that helps disambiguate different uses of the same text in the same context.

For example, the "Cancel" in a dialog might have "Anuluj" when the program runs in Polish (in this case the source text would be "Cancel"). The context would (normally) be the dialog's class name; there would normally be no comment, and the translated text would be "Anuluj".

But it's not always so simple. The Spanish version of a printer dialog with settings for two-sided printing and binding would probably require both "Activado" and "Activada" as translations for "Enabled". In this case the source text would be "Enabled" in both cases, and the context would be the dialog's class name, but the two items would have disambiguating comments such as "two-sided printing" for one and "binding" for the other. The comment enables the translator to choose the appropriate gender for the Spanish version, and enables Qt to distinguish between translations.

See also QApplication::installTranslator(), QApplication::removeTranslator(), QObject::tr(), and QApplication::translate().

Member Function Documentation

QTranslator::QTranslator ( QObject * parent = 0 )

Constructs an empty message file object with parent parent that is not connected to any file.

QTranslator::~QTranslator ()

Destroys the object and frees any allocated resources.

bool QTranslator::isEmpty () const   [virtual]

Returns true if this translator is empty, otherwise returns false. This function works with stripped and unstripped translation files.

bool QTranslator::load ( const QString & filename, const QString & directory = QString(), const QString & search_delimiters = QString(), const QString & suffix = QString() )

Loads filename + suffix (".qm" if the suffix is not specified), which may be an absolute file name or relative to directory. The previous contents of this translator object is discarded.

If the file name does not exist, other file names are tried in the following order:

1. File name without suffix appended.
2. File name with text after a character in search_delimiters stripped ("_." is the default for search_delimiters if it is an empty string) and suffix.
3. File name stripped without suffix appended.
4. File name stripped further, etc.

For example, an application running in the fr_CA locale (French-speaking Canada) might call load("foo.fr_ca", "/opt/foolib"). load() would then try to open the first existing readable file from this list:

1. /opt/foolib/foo.fr_ca.qm
2. /opt/foolib/foo.fr_ca
3. /opt/foolib/foo.fr.qm
4. /opt/foolib/foo.fr
5. /opt/foolib/foo.qm
6. /opt/foolib/foo

bool QTranslator::load ( const uchar * data, int len )

This is an overloaded member function, provided for convenience.

Loads the .qm file data data of length len into the translator.

The data is not copied. The caller must be able to guarantee that data will not be deleted or modified.

QString QTranslator::translate ( const char * context, const char * sourceText, const char * comment = 0 ) const   [virtual]

Returns the translation for the key (context, sourceText, comment). If none is found, also tries (context, sourceText, ""). If that still fails, returns an empty string.

See also load().