LOCALIZING QUICK DEVIS®
Page released September, 24, 2005
This page is provided to help partners to localize Quick Devis® and associated tools for their markets. Please read carefully this page before starting the localization process.
Please note that French is the native language of Quick Devis®, if you have any doubt about the meaning of a message, refer to the French translation instead of the English one if you do speak French.
Required software and knowledge
To localize Quick Devis®, you may need:
The last Quick Devis® version 6.07 program (Free Edition and Enterprise Edition)
The last Quick Devis localization software
The last language file: AllLanguages.lng
The current document
The 'installation messages' file
Six icon files
The last source file named GhostSources.bin
The sample Excel file (sample XL EN.xls)
The copyright message (BootlogEN.txt)
The Default profile (Default Profile EN.pfl)
The sample estimate (free_sampleEN.dvz)
Five .DOT Word documents
The standard mail file (free_sampleEN.dot)
The resources files for the spreadsheets (only if the target language differs from Italian, Spanish and German)
Two users manuals (Free Edition and Enterprise Edition)
The pages of the Web site http://www.quick-devis.net
You must have a basic knowledge of IT (particularly the Windows explorer), Excel and Word.
Your computer must run Windows 2000, XP or greater. Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word must be installed (versions 2000 or greater)
A fast internet link would be convenient.
Some words used in Quick Devis® comes from financial and building trade vocabulary and are very specifics. These words are widely used in the application and need to be correctly translated. You may have to refer to financial / business dictionaries or to query information from people who manage estimates in building trade or connected works before starting the localization process. These words are listed below :
French / English
Devis / Estimate (is the name used in building trade for a 'quote')
Environnement / Overhead expenses (is the datasheet where overhead costs are calculated)
Remises / Rebate (is the discount value calculated on an article)
Article / Article (is the most basic item such a kilogram of concrete)
Groupe / Group (is a group or articles)
Ensemble / Ensemble (is a group of things evaluated as a whole)
Bordereau / B.O.Q. (is the price list, the result of an estimate given to the customer - Named Bill Of Quantities in building trade)
Minutes / Detailed View (is the most detailed view of an estimate)
Nomenclature / Nomenclature (is the sorted view of an estimate)
Générateur d'états / Report Generator (is the tools that will create reporting frames)
Fournitures / Material
Main d'oeuvre / Workforce
STEP 1 - Install Quick Devis V6.07
To download Quick Devis® 6.07, Clicking the following links:
Enterprise Edition: http://www.iaes-software.com/downloads/qd607ee.exe
Free Edition: http://www.iaes-software.com/downloads/qd607fe.exe
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find these installation files in the root directory:
Enterprise Edition: qd607ee.exe
Free Edition: qd607fe.exe
To can install any of these files on any computer running Windows 2000, XP or greater. If you had a previous version installed on your computer, you don't need to uninstall it first. You cannot install Enterprise Edition and Free Edition on the same computer. The last one installed replaces automatically the previous one.
We advise you to install directly the Enterprise Edition which contain all of the features of the Free Edition in order to avoid testing both editions.
When installing, you will be prompted to select a language. Available languages at the publishing date are:
English
French
Choose the language you know the best. You'll be able to change it easily by simply replacing the QDResxxxxxx.DLL (where xxxxxx is the name of the language in English). This file is located in the Quick Devis® installation directory (C:\Program Files\Quick Devis V6\). The localization software will automatically replace this file is installed in this directory.
STEP 2 - Install the localization software
To get the localisation software, just click the following link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/qdlocalize.exe to download the file and then, place it in the same directory as Quick Devis® is (usually C:\Program Files\Quick Devis V6\ if you didn’t change it during the installation process). If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory qdlocalize.exe
To launch the localization software, just click the file from the window file explorer or create a shortcut and place it on your desktop. Caution: don’t move the EXE file itself, it has to remain in the same directory as Quick Devis®.
STEP 3 - Install the localization database
The localized database can be downloaded here http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/AllLanguages.lng .As you did for the EXE file, place this file in the same directory as Quick Devis®. If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory AllLanguages.lng
The localization database contains, at this time, the following languages:
English (100% - terminated)
French (100% - terminated)
Portuguese (80% only)
STEP 4 - Print translation tips
Print the current chapter to get the translation tips.
Most of the strings in the language database are not sensitive and can be translated as you feel. Just look at the punctuation, some strings begin with a dot, some other end by a dot or a semicolon. Keep these signs if your language allows it because (for example) a string beginning by a dot means that the previous string connected to it in a message does not end by a dot.
Take care to the case of the characters. Some strings are completely uppercased, these strings are generally used for comparison in the program. Keep them uppercased in the new language. As a general rule, when a string begins by a capital, do the same in the new language except if specific semantic rules dictate the opposite (i.e. February in English should always begin by a capital but not in French).
Some other strings are sensitive, meaning that the program will not work properly if they are wrongly translated. For these strings, a comment is mentioned in the appropriate column of the localization tool. Read and make sure you understand these comments. If not, call us.
Not all the sensitive strings handle a comment. So, you have to know that the translation of the followings may require a special attention:
/MT-CO/MT-SP/MT-FP/MT-PP/WF-FP/MT-QY/WF-QY/WF-CO/WF-SP/CY-CO/CY-SP/WF-HR/
These strings should match the same shape (5 characters and a – in the middle). Their meaning is respectively Material Cost, Material Selling Price, Material Forced Price, Material Public Price, Workforce Selling price…Material Currencies…
/Hour/Minute/Second/Day/Week/Month/Year
/CostManufa_/CostFamily_/CostUserFld_/ENV_FileName/ENV_FilePath/
/Column/Totals YES/Totals NO/as COL. H/
/MGT_Cus_Num/MGT_Estimate_Num/MGT_Estimate_Label/MGT_Cus_Company/MGT_Contact_Name/MGT_Cus_Phone/MGT_Cus_Fax/MGT_Cus_Email/MGT_Cus_City/MGT_Cus_ZipCode/MGT_Cus_Address/MGT_Revision_Estimate/MGT_Cus_Sex/MGT_Date/MGT_Time/MGT_Cipher/
These strings are located from position 7004 to 7009 in the localization database. Any word that remains in these string should keep the same translation across the database. Often, a comment was written in the database for this.
Another critical translation is the one of the default worksheets in the overhead costs datasheet. These tabs are named Calc1, Calc2, Workforce, Material, Families, UserFields…
These terms are used in Excel like formulas that need translation, for this reason, you have to make sure the same names are used in every formula across the database. Avoid using international characters to name worksheets if possible. Avoid the use of () {/\... in these names also.
Of course, your translation will be checked by our checking program that will point out case mismatch and many other errors. Keep in mind that we do not know anything about your language and we'll not be able to correct all of the errors by ourselves. For this reason, we recommend that you respect exactly the above prescriptions because, for example, we'll not be able to automatically detect that a tab is named Calc1 in a formula and Calculation1 in another. Such a difference would cause the program to stop.
STEP 5 - Translate installation messages
You can download an Excel workbook containing all of the installation messaged by clicking http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/QDinstallmessages.xls
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory QDinstallmessages.xls
Just translate the worksheets located in this file. Many control characters are used to manage the installation procedures. Keep these characters exactly as they are in the native language.
You cannot test the install procedure by yourself.
STEP 6 - Translate image files
You will find the icon files in the Quick Devis® directory (usually C:\Program Files\Quick Devis V6\ if you didn’t change it during the installation process). They are installed automatically by the installation program. They are named QDSSP.ico, QDSCO.ico, QSSCOSP.ico, QDBold.ico, QDItalic.ico and QDUnderline.ico.
The first set of three files are described as follow: one reproduces a åSP another one a åCO and the last one a åCOSP. These icons mean respectively ‘Sum of selling prices’, ‘Sum of costs’ and 'Sum of costs and selling prices'.
The second set of three files match 'Bold', 'Italic' and 'Underline' shapes. Give them the letters used in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word in your language.
To edit these icon files, you can use any icon editor. If you don’t have one, we can suggest downloading AIE by clicking http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/AIEinstaller.exe. If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory AIEinstaller.exe
AIE is a freeware.
It is strongly recommended that you make changes in the icon files provided with Quick Devis® rather than creating new ones. If you don’t, make sure formats and colours match.
The names of the icon files should remain QDSSP.ico, QDSCO.ico, QSSCOSP.ico, QDBold.ico, QDItalic.ico and QDUnderline.ico for all of the languages. Save your file in another directory to make sure they will not be replaced by the installation program if you need to reinstall Quick Devis®.
STEP 7 - Install the image of the source files
The GhostSources.bin file contains most of the source lines of the program that contain at least one message. You can download it here: http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/GhostSources.bin. If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory GhostSources.bin
Place it in the same directory as Quick Devis® is (usually C:\Program Files\Quick Devis V6\ if you didn’t change it during the installation process)
This file enables you to get the context of a message. If the message is followed by another one that is important to define the gender or the meaning of the previous message, you'll see both messages by calling the appropriate function from the localization tool.
STEP 8 - Translate the database and build a specific DLL file
You’re now ready to localize Quick Devis®.
Launch qdlocalizeVxx.exe by directly clicking it or by clicking it’s shortcut if any. You’ll get an empty spreadsheet.
Click the leftmost button in the menu bar. This will load the database with the default languages.
Click the ‘Settings’ button in the menu bar and select the language you want to create and the language you want to display (the English language is automatically displayed). Note that the native language of the application is French, so, if you do understand this language, you can display it next to the English translation.
You can now translate every string. If necessary, you can use the copy and paste functions (CTRL+C / CTRL+V) as you would do with Excel. To enter a cell, use the F2 function.
The localization program will automatically keep your settings. For the next sessions, you’ll just have to click the ‘load database’ button to start translating. Do not forget to often save your work by using the appropriate button.
When localizing, you may often need to see the messages linked to the message you edit (to see if a complete sentence makes sense for example). To do this, just click the 'See source context' button. Then, you'll see the complete source which uses the message and the message itself next to the messages linked to it if any.
To make correct translation easier, you can export the edited language to Microsoft Excel, use Excel to check the spelling and then, import the resulting file. Note that the file you want to import should always be the same as the one you exported (it should keep the same name and shape).
Important : Avoid localizing directly under Ms Excel because you would not see the comments. These comments are very important to translate technical strings.
It is a good practice to make backup copies of the language database. It’s name is AllLanguages.lng. The file is located in the same directory as Quick Devis® is. Just copy and paste it in another location using the Windows file explorer.
The localization program enables you to produce directly a DLL file that will be read by Quick Devis®. To do this, just click the ‘Build DLL’ button on the menu bar.
The DLL will be automatically recorded in the same directory as Quick Devis®. If Quick Devis finds more than one DLL in this directory, it will return an error. To Check your DLL, you’ll have to remove the initial DLL first. DLLs are always named QDResxxxxxx.DLL (where xxxxxx is the name of the language in English).
Instead of removing it, you could simply rename it with another suffix (ex: DL$) to be able to restore it easily without having to reinstall the application.
If you go to the current page which is located on our server, you'll see certainly some upgrades of the AllLanguages.lng database. If your are currently translating Quick Devis®, avoid installing such new database before sending your database to us because only us can manage the different versions of the database.
The best process in such case is the following. Even if your translation was not completed.
Send your database to us (contact below)
Wait for us to publish the new mixed file including you changes
Download the new database from the current remote page
STEP 9 - Translate the sample Excel file
You can download the sample Excel file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/sampleXLEN.xls
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory sampleXLEN.xls
Just translate this file 'as you feel'. You can change completely the terms, it has to have a meaning for a project.
Save the resulting file under sampleXLXX.xls where XX is your language acronym.
STEP 10 - Translate the copyright message file
You can download the copyright message file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/BootlogEN.txt
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory BootlogEN.txt
Translate this file and save it as BootlogXX.txt where XX is your language acronym.
STEP 10 - Translate the default Profile
You can download the default profile file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/DefaultProfileEN.pfl
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory DefaultProfileEN.pfl
Load this profile using the report generator under the localized version of Quick Devis® and translate the headers for first page, next page and option pages.
Do do this, click the 'load profile' button under the report generator.
Save the resulting profile using the 'save profile' button under DefaultProfileXX.pfl where XX is your language acronym.
STEP 11 - Translate the sample estimate file
You can download the sample Excel file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/freesamplefr.dvz
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory freesamplefr.dvz
Load the file under the localized version of Quick Devis® and translate the customer view, the detailed view, the management data and the overhead costs datasheet 'as you feel it'. You can change completely the terms, just it has to have a meaning for a project.
Please not that this file is not yet localized in English, you'll have to translate it from the French version. Translate this file 'as you feel'. You may even change the meaning of the sentences, the result must look like a real project.
Save the resulting file under free_sampleXX.xls where XX is your language acronym.
STEP 12 - Translate five .DOT documents
You can download the documents by clicking the links:
http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/QDArtDocumentEN.dot
http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/QDGroupDocumentEN.dot
http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/QDMasterDocEN.DOC
http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/QDMasterDocumentEN.dot
http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/QDMasterMergeDocumentEN.dot
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory:
Load the files using Microsoft Word (greater than word 97). For every file, select the whole document and set default language to your language, then, translate the terms in the bodies of the documents and the terms located in the headers and footers.
Save every file in .DOT format with the acronym of your language instead of EN.
STEP 13 - Translate the standard mail document
You can download the standard mail document by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/free_sampleEN.dot
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory free_sampleEN.dot
First, activate the macros under Microsoft Word using the 'Tools/Macros/Security' menu, then select low security level or medium security level.
Launch Quick Devis®, load the sample estimate and click the 'Word' button. Then click the 'Word .DOT' button and select the free_sampleEN.dot document. Keep the CTRL key pressed while loading the document to avoid running macros.
Use the merging functions of Word to replace one by one each field in the document by the appropriate field in your language. After this, translate the comments and the header.
Save the document in .DOT format with the acronym of your language instead of EN.
STEP 14 - Localizing the spreasheet components embeded in Quick Devis®
This step is NOT a concern if your language is Italian, Spanish or German. Ignore it in such case.
Quick Devis® uses an external component that provides all spreadsheet resources in the application. Are concerned: the spreadsheet messages such
'page setup'
'search / replace'
'print setup'
...
but also the Excel type formulation such as
SUM(
NOW()
AVERAGE()
...
The spreadsheet component was already localized in
English (native no need for resource file)
French
German
Italian
Spanish
If you think English formulation is acceptable for your language (such as for Japanese, Chinese, Thai... and most of the oriental or few represented languages), you don't need to translate the resource files.
If you think you're concerned by the translation of the resources files, you can download them here:
Italian: http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/SpreadsheetIT.res
French: http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/SpreadsheetFR.res
Spanish: http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/SpreadsheetES.res
German: http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/SpreadsheetDE.res
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory:
Italian: SpreadsheetIT.res
French: SpreadsheetFR.res
Spanish: SpreadsheetES.res
German: SpreadsheetDE.res
These files meet the standards for resources files, so you can edit them using any resource editor such as Visual Studio or many free tools you can find on the www.
You must translate the Dialogs, Menus and Strings Table sections in the files.
Save the resulting file in .res format with the acronym of your language instead.
STEP 15 - Localizing the users manuals
The users manuals are not available at this time. They'll be provided within a month. The 'Free Edition' manual contains 70 pages with about 40 graphics. The 'Enterprise Edition' manual contains 250 pages with about 100 graphics. The graphics and screenshots do not need to be translated, the new captures will be made by ourselves.
We'll provide the manuals already translated in your language using the SYSTRANS translation software. You'll have to read and correct the electronic translation and to replace the specific terms that will be certainly wrongly translated by SYSTRANS.
To get an Idea of the job, you can download the French manual of the Enterprise Edition by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/frenchmanual.zip
If you do have a CD Rom, you will find this file in the root directory frenchmanual.zip
Caution: Do not translate this document that need to by modified first.
STEP 16 - Localizing the Web site
The web site can be accessed by clicking the following link: http://www.quick-devis.net
It contains less than 10 pages. Please translate every page by copying and pasting the texts from your explorer to Microsoft Word. Give us the result in a Microsoft Word format and we'll rebuild the HTML pages to publish it.
Note that the translation of the site has to be as close to the 'building trade' as possible because we'll use this translation to our advertising in the targeted country.
Contact us
If you meet any problem translating or testing Quick Devis®, feel free to call:
Pierrick Combreau
Quotalys LTD
+33 468389202 / +33 622308489
We can speak English, French and a bit of Spanish if requested.