Changing Calc function names to other languages

[geoff_f]

I was prompted by a request here:

http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7623

for a tool that would allow a spreadsheet to be developed in one language, then opened in other languages (which would not necessarily be known at time of distribution) and have the ability to change the function names in the spreadsheet to match those of the recipient's language. This tool would be a macro that would be packaged with the spreadsheet before distribution.

I have started developing a macro that searches through the function names entered in a spreadsheet and replaces them with the names from another language selected by the recipient. It is at the proof-of-concept stage, and conceptually, it's quite simple. The detail, though, is a bit more complicated. It would obviously be based on having lists of Calc function names in the various languages, then making a match between them when making the conversion to the recipient's language. So far, I have found all the function names in English (360 of them, with the Analysis functions add-in installed), but to go further, I need to compile a list of equivalent function names from other languages. My basic problem is that I am not multi-lingual, so I have no clue on how to go about compiling these lists.

What I really need is for some kind folk here to help me out with this, for which I would be extremely grateful. People could just PM me and I could supply the list of function names in English, then you could PM me back with their equivalents in your preferred language (the lists would be far too long and cumbersome to grace these pages). These function names are readily available through the 'AutoPilot: Functions' button on the Formula Bar.

It seems to me that this would be a useful tool, but since I don't get subjected to cross-language problems, It's hard for me to gauge. What do people think - would this be useful? If so, I would be happy to develop it further and make it available at ooomacros.org.

Many thanks,

Geoff.

[erikanderson3]

This is a serious enough useability issue I would suggest you instead/additionally file a request for enhancement. I'd imagine something like this would be better implemented closer to the core of OOo funcationality than an add-on macro. Not to impugn your code or your idea at all, I simply think this should be default OOo behaviour. In the meantime, I laud your efforts , though I cannot do much to help . I may be able to get my hands on the Japanese function list, but my time at present is short enough it would take me a while.

Cheers,

Erik

[geoff_f]

Eric, thanks for your comments. Yes, I agree that an enhancement request is the better way to go in the longer term, and I intended to do so after I had completed the macro, as I might then have a few pointers for the OOo developers. For the shorter term I would be happy to do this as a learning experience for me in building OOo macros, and to benefit others pending an official inclusion in OOo.

However, your example has pointed out a limitation of someone such as myself taking this on, as I didn't even consider the prospect of a language like Japanese, where (perhaps) Kanji characters might be involved. I doubt whether I'd be able to handle that, as my OS is limited to arabic characters. I expect that I would be limited to doing, say, European languages.