Internationalization of HydroServer Interactive

Objectives:

Create internationalized version of HydroServer Interactive Web Client

Streamline translation process

Create a Spanish version of HydroServer Interactive

With growing adoption and simplified deployment of CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) tools and standards such as WaterOneFlow services and WaterML, it is expected that international interest in using these tools for data sharing will continue to grow. Additionally, international efforts at expanded data sharing (e.g. GEOSS) are also motivating use of such tools outside the U.S. Brigham Young University is currently actively involved in facilitating the adoption of CUAHSI HIS internationally through an extensive internationalization and translation effort.

Folder Stucture (Streamlines Translation):

For each webpage in the HydroServer Interactive Web Client, all displayed text strings were copied into corresponding “*_text.php” files.

Key File Higlight:…/client/internationalize.php– Included at the top of every page, internationalize.php defines the language and includes the list of variables and translated strings (_text.php [for each page] and _common_text.php)

Variable Replacement Approach:

In the _text.php files, each string was assigned a PHP variable which, at run time, is read into the original page; the page reads the variable and displays the corresponding string. Following this approach, only the “*_text.php” files need to be translated into different languages rather than all HydroServer web pages. This approach has been shown to greatly simplify the translation process so that many languages can ultimately be supported.

Key File Higlight:…/client/(en,es,etc.)/_common_text– Contains a list directory of commonly used terms such as “Cancel”, and “Date”.