Was wondering if there was anyone out there with Visual Basic skills and desire to further the cause of Bible Translation. A friend of mine requested the following. I don't know much beyond this, but if you contact me offlist, we can figure out next steps. Thanks!! threadprinter (presently at) hotmail.com

---------------

There is a tool that used to be part a suite that does a
simplified sort of machine translation, but it has not been made to
fully work with Unicode. If someone could write a new version of it, it
would help immensely.

- The tool needs to read from and write to a plain text database file
(using "standard format markers"-- a proprietary set of standard format conventions),

- and it needs to present two of the fields from that database
graphically, allowing the user to make a choice in one particular field
that can have more than one item in it.

- When the user makes a choice in a record, the database is changed to
have only that one option in that field for that record, instead of all
the options.

- All other contents of the database are left as they were.

- The user needs to make choices like this for all the records that
have multiple options in that particular field.

It's not all that involved, and I could provide much more specific specs
(and an example of a tool that does it half-way). The key point is that
it needs to render Unicode, using the Uniscribe DLL (or whatever is
available on other platforms--it can be cross-platform, but has to at
least work on Windows).

The current tool that was halfway converted to work with Unicode
is written in Visual Basic. The person who did that said he no longer
has access to the development tools, to apply the Unicode stuff to the
field he didn't apply it to. But if someone knows Visual Basic and
wants to take a look at this, it might not be that hard to take what my
colleague did to one field and apply it to the other.

I have VB, although I do all my development in VC++. I would be interested in finding out more about this project, as I have a very keen interest in Bible translation, and how I can use my programming skills in that area. You can reply here, send me a private message, or email me at brian (at) tegarttech (dot) com.

------------------
Brian

"OOP programmers have a lot of class"

Check out this webhost! Fantastic prices, features and support!

Feel free to reach me at hanclinto (at) gmail (dot) com.

--clint

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited November 08, 2007).]

------------------
John 14:6

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

spade89 - hello, and nice to meet you! Java may be better suited, as you say. For this project, there seems to be an issue of legacy code and compatibility with a software suite already in production. Frankly, a lot of this stuff is way above my head... haha, you've outted me as a non-programmer. =)

I've been blessed to have contact with a lot of techie folks in Christian organizations. I hear a lot of tech needs out there, and know just enough to semi-intelligently determine if their needs are ones that can be met by the volunteer Coder Body of Christ. If the community here might like the opportunity to use their tech skills for the kingdom then I'll keep my ears open for other needs.

For this, and hopefully more projects, we might need a sort of CVS and wiki to coordinate efforts. I've been asking the CODN.net folks about setting something up like Trac. Any suggestions for good community workflow?

------------------
Never Forget to Pray!

"...prayer itself is an art which only the Holy Ghost can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer. Pray for prayer---pray till you can pray; pray to be helped to pray, and give not up praying because you cannot pray, for it is when you think you cannot pray that you are most praying. Sometimes when you have no sort of comfort in your supplications, it is then that your heart---all broken and cast down---is really wrestling and truly prevailing with the Most High."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, from the pamphlet, "Effective Prayer"

quote:

---

Originally posted by threadprinter:
For this, and hopefully more projects, we might need a sort of CVS and wiki to coordinate efforts. I've been asking the CODN.net folks about setting something up like Trac. Any suggestions for good community workflow?

---

--clint

OK, well, I would also be interested in helping out, but I do not have VB skills. I would still like to see and hear about the project. This totally fits my interest as my enjoyment is in application development. The site is focused rather heavily on games, so this is a refreshing request and opportunity.

I sent off an e-mail.