[xliff-tools] C-format annotations

[Asgeir Frimannsson]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 01:06, Bruno Haible wrote:
> 1.4.1.4.2. C-format
>
> <x> seems to be a more suitable placeholder than <it>: it does not require
> a pos="open" attribute.
> Unsolved question: How does this deal with reordering (in C, the POSIX
> "%2$d" syntax)?
>
> Also it makes it impossible to replace %d with %Id - an option needed by
> Farsi translators.

Section 2.4 (Inline Elements) in the XLIFF spec has a good explaination of 
inline elements:

There are three different types of inline elements:

   1. Elements that have a content, and for which this content is the actual 
native code of the original data (escaped for XML if necessary). These 
elements are: <bpt>, <ept>, <it>, and <ph>.
   2. Elements that are empty and act has placeholders for a native code that 
is either in the Skeleton file or generated automatically. these elements 
are: <g>, <bx/>, <ex/>, and <x/>.
   3. The <sub> element, which can be inside <bpt>, <ept>, <it>, and <ph> to 
delimit a translatable run of text within a native inline code, for example 
the value of an ALT attribute in a <IMG> element in HTML.

Using <x/> would mean that translators can't change the code data. As you 
mention, translators must be able to change the parameters, so we need to 
choose one of the alternatives in option 1. After reading your comment on the 
pos attribute, I would propose <ph> as the most ideal attribute, as this 
doesn't have the consept of opening/closing tag, and can contain code data 
which translators can edit. 

> How does this relate to <context context-type="numparams"> ?

I guess it would make sense to set this to the number of parameters in 
<source>? That would also make it possible for back-converters to check for 
correct number of parameters.

cheers,
asgeir