LOCALIZING QUICK DEVIS®
Page released
March, 24, 2009
This page is provided to help partners localizing Quick Devis®
and associated tools for their markets. Please read carefully this page before
starting the localization process.
Please notice 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:
1.
The last Quick Devis® version 6.11
program (Free Edition and Enterprise Edition)
2.
The Microsoft Excel fle handling languages QD
Localize.XLS
3.
The current document
4.
The 'installation messages' file
5.
Six icon files
6.
The sample Excel file (sample XL EN.xls)
7.
The copyright message (BootlogEN.txt)
8.
The Default profile (Default Profile EN.pfl)
9.
The sample estimate (free_sampleEN.dvz)
10. Five
.DOT Word documents
11. The
standard mail file (free_sampleEN.dot)
12. The
resources files for the spreadsheets (only if the targeted language differs
from English, French, Italian, Spanish and German)
13. Two
users manuals (Free Edition and Enterprise Edition)
14. 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® come 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 managing
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 articles 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® 6.11, Clicking the following links:
To can install them 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 contains
all of the features of the Free Edition in order to avoid testing both
editions.
In order to run the Enterprise Edition, you need a license. Please
contact us for this.
When installing, you will be prompted to select a language. Available
languages at the publishing date are:
Notice that the installer selects automatically the language regarding
the system if available. If you are not prompted to select a language and want
not your system’s language, launch the installer using a command such as /EN,
/DE, /ES, /CN, /IT, /PT, /FR to tell the installer to select another language.
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/QD_Localize.XLS
to download the file. The file is a simple Excel file containing macros.
Using the Settings tab of this file, you can select the output
directory which is the one where the resulting DLL file will be written. Select
the installing directory of Quick Devis for this purpose. Usually C:\Program Files\Quick
Devis V6\ if you did not change it while installing the application.
STEP 3 - 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
Some cells are coloured in blue meaning they are translated variables.
Never attempt to change those colours.
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 crash.
STEP 4 - 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
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 installing procedure by yourself. Just forward us
the translated file.
STEP 5 - 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 follows: one reproduces a
SP another one a CO and the last one a COSP. 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.
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 6 - Translate the Excel file QD_Localize.XLS
Use your language’s column in QD_Localize.XLS and translate all strings
(some 8’500 strings totalizing 60’000 characters).
When done, click the proper button and a DLL file will be generated.
STEP 7 - Translate the sample Excel file
You can download the sample Excel file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/sampleXLEN.xls
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 8 - Translate the copyright message file
You can download the copyright message file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/BootlogEN.txt
Translate this file and save it as BootlogXX.txt where XX is your
language acronym.
STEP 9 - Translate the default Profile
You can download the default profile file by clicking the link http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/DefaultProfileEN.zip
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 10 - Translate the sample estimate file
You will find the sample file in the installation directory. The name is
EntepriseSample_overhead.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. The result must look like a real
project.
Do not attempt to translate the other sample files because they will be
derived from your file by our team.
Save the resulting file under EntepriseSample_overhead.dvz where XX is
your language acronym.
STEP 11 - 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
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 12 - 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
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 13 - Localizing the spreasheet components embeded
in Quick Devis®
This step is NOT a concern if your language is French, English, 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
but also the Excel type formulation such as
The spreadsheet component was already localized in
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. Anyway, you may
want to translate the messages and windows in those files.
If you think you're concerned by the translation of the resources files,
you can download an archive of the files here:
http://www.iaes-software.com/localize/SpreadsheetDLLs.zip
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 14 - Localizing the user’s manuals
You can download the user’s manuals on http://www.quick-devis.net/documentation/documentation.htm
WE DO NOT PLAN TO TRANSLATE the Enterprise-Edition-manual which is
provided only in French and English. But the Free-Edition-manual should be
translated.
Our team will manage the screenshots in the manual. Just translate the
texts taking care of the names used in the menus and windows.
STEP 15 - 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.