AUTOMATED LANGUAGE CONVERSION

IMPORT/EXPORT

TRANSLATION FILE SPECIFICATION

Version 2.1

September 2008

ALC Import/Export Translation File Specification

Overview

The purpose of this document is to define the structure of the translation files used in the import and export feature of the Automated Language Conversion (ALC) application. The application allows the import and export of the following categories of translations: Cities, Installations, Equipment Abbreviations, Equipment Designations, Rank, Unit Abbreviations and Unit Designations. The application provides for the use of two formats: a fixed-width Unicode text file or an Excel workbook. The Excel workbook format is only available if the system running the ALC application also has Microsoft Excel installed.

Translation File Data Elements Definition

Cities

The Cities file contains translations corresponding to the CITY field in the LOCATION files of the CFE, CSBM and GEMI Vienna Transmission File Structures. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter30

4FRENCHCharacter30

5GERMANCharacter30

6ITALIANCharacter30

7RUSSIANCharacter30

8SPANISHCharacter30

9NATIONALCharacter30

Installations

The Installations file contains translations corresponding to the INSTALLION field in the LOCATION files of the CFE, CSBM and GEMI Vienna Transmission File Structures. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter35

4FRENCHCharacter35

5GERMANCharacter35

6ITALIANCharacter35

7RUSSIANCharacter35

8SPANISHCharacter35

9NATIONALCharacter35

Equipment Abbreviations

The Equipment Abbreviations file contains translations corresponding to the EQTABBR field in the EQUIPMNT files of the CFE and CSBM Vienna Transmission File Structures. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter20

4FRENCHCharacter20

5GERMANCharacter20

6ITALIANCharacter20

7RUSSIANCharacter20

8SPANISHCharacter20

9NATIONALCharacter20

Equipment Designations

The Equipment Designations file contains translations corresponding to the EQTNAME field in the EQUIPMNT files of the CFE and CSBM Vienna Transmission File Structures. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter40

4FRENCHCharacter40

5GERMANCharacter40

6ITALIANCharacter40

7RUSSIANCharacter40

8SPANISHCharacter40

9NATIONALCharacter40

Rank

The Rank file contains translations corresponding to the RANK field in the TSTRNGTH file of the GEMI Vienna Transmission File Structures. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter50

4FRENCHCharacter50

5GERMANCharacter50

6ITALIANCharacter50

7RUSSIANCharacter50

8SPANISHCharacter50

9NATIONALCharacter50

Unit Abbreviations

The Unit Abbreviations file contains translations corresponding to the FORMUNIABB field in the UNITORG files of the CFE, CSBM and GEMI Vienna Transmission File Structures. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter20

4FRENCHCharacter20

5GERMANCharacter20

6ITALIANCharacter20

7RUSSIANCharacter20

8SPANISHCharacter20

9NATIONALCharacter20

Unit Designations

The Unit Designations file contains translations corresponding to the FORMUNIDES field in the UNITORG files of the CFE, CSBM and GEMI Vienna Transmission File Structures. The file also contains translations corresponding to the DESIGNATON field in the OTHERTLE file of the CFE Vienna Transmission File Structure. The translation file is composed of the following data elements:

FIELDNAMETYPEWIDTH

1STATECharacter2

2BASE_LANGUAGECharacter1

3ENGLISHCharacter50

4FRENCHCharacter50

5GERMANCharacter50

6ITALIANCharacter50

7RUSSIANCharacter50

8SPANISHCharacter50

9NATIONALCharacter50

FORMATS

The ALC application will export to or import from two file formats: a fixed-width Unicode text file or an Excel workbook.

Text

Each translation file in text format will contain one of the translation lookup table categories.The text file will adhere to the following conventions:

  1. The file will be in fixed-width format.
  2. Characters will be Unicode.
  3. The first line of the file will contain the field names. Where the field name is longer than the allowed width of the field, the field name will be truncated to the field width value.
  4. The exported files will be named to match the category of the translations exported with a .txt extension:
  5. The table containing translations for the Cities category will export to Cities.txt.
  6. The table containing translations for the Equipment Abbreviations category will export to Equipment_Abbreviaitons.txt.
  7. The table containing translations for the Equipment Designations category will export to Equipment_Designations.txt.
  8. The table containing translations for the Installations category will export to Installations.txt.
  9. The table containing translations for the Rank category will export to Rank.txt.
  10. The table containing translations for the Unit Abbreviations category will export to Unit_Abbreviations.txt.
  11. The table containing translations for the Unit Designations category will export to Unit_Designations.txt.
  12. Any file with a .txt extension can be imported. The application will verify the correct format by analyzing the field names in the first line of the file. If the expected format is not found, the application will abort the import.

Excel

  1. Each translation file in Excel format will contain one or more of the translation lookup table categories. Each Excel file will adhere to the following conventions:
  1. The worksheets within the workbook will be named according to the category of translations contained on the sheet:
  2. The table containing translations for the Cities category will export to a worksheet named Cities.
  3. The table containing translations for the Equipment Abbreviations category will export to a worksheet named Equipment_Abbreviaitons.
  4. The table containing translations for the Equipment Designations category will export to a worksheet named Equipment_Designations.
  5. The table containing translations for the Installations category will export to a worksheet named Installations.
  6. The table containing translations for the Rank category will export to a worksheet named Rank.
  7. The table containing translations for the Unit Abbreviations category will export to a worksheet named Unit_Abbreviations.
  8. The table containing translations for the Unit Designations category will export to a worksheet named Unit_Designations.
  9. The first row of the worksheet will contain the field names.
  10. Characters will be Unicode.
  11. The exported file name will be alc.xls.
  12. Any file with an .xls extension can be imported. The application will verify the correct format by first checking the name of the worksheet, then verifying the field names in the first row of the worksheet. If the expected format is not found, the application will abort the import.

Version 2.11September 2008