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Translation

Bus Pirate 5 supports live language switching via the configuration menu. The language setting will be saved to flash storage and loaded each time the Bus Pirate starts.

Configure interface language​

Bus Pirate [/dev/ttyS0]
HiZ> c

Configuration options
1. Language
2. ANSI color mode
3. ANSI toolbar mode
4. LCD screensaver
5. LED effect
6. LED color
7. LED brightness
x.
> 1

Language
1. English
2. Chinese (simplified)
x.
>

Type c and press enter to display the configuration menu. Choose language (option 1), then select an available language.

Make or update a translation​

tip

Translations can be created and edited in your browser. Check out the Bus Pirate 5 translation web app.

  • Open the translation web page
  • To edit an existing translation choose it from the Load Translation File drop down menu
  • To create a new translation, choose en-us.json (the base translation)
  • Translate the text fields
  • Click Download JSON to download your translation text as a .json file
  • Name the .json file something logical like the ISO 6391-1 language code and a region code. For example nl-nl.h for Dutch-Netherlands.
  • Post the .json file in the forum, or submit a pull request on GitHub

Process to .h header file​

Translations are stored in .json files and processed to .h header files. The reason for this is because it was a huge pain to update a bunch of files for a single change. A simple Python script uses the en-us.h translation as a base and builds all the other header files from the .json source.

Base translation file​

en-us.h is the base translation file. It provides two important things:

  1. The keys in en-us.h such as T_WARN_VOUT_VREF_LOW become the master list of translation keys. The enumeration in base.h will be built from these keys
  2. The value strings in en-us.h become the default strings. If a key is present in a .json translation file that string will be used. However, if a key is not present in the .json translation file the en-us.h default string is used

Adding a new string​

This section is for developers adding strings. You can skip this if you're just installing a new translation. 

    [T_HELP_SYS_HELP]="How to use the help system",
    [T_HELP_GCMD_SELFTEST]="run a complete system self-test",
    [T_ADDED_NEW_STRING]="We just added a new string!",

en-us.h is the base translation file. Add new entries in en-us.h and then run json2h.py to build all the other header files.

  • Locate en-us.h in the /translation/ folder of the firmware
  • Add your new entries somewhere logical and give them a descriptive key, example: T_ADDED_NEW_STRING
danger

Format entries exactly as the previous entries: no spaces between the ]=" or between ",. The regex used to process the file isn't very robust. If you get compile errors be sure to check this!

Run json2h.py​

json2h.py first processes the en-us.h file, then builds the other headers files using the .json translation files as a source.

  • Open a terminal
  • Navigate to the firmware /translation/ folder
  • Run json2h.py

You'll see a lot of unhelpful output, ignore it. All the .json translation files will now have a .h header file with the same name.

Installing a translation​

Include translation​

#include <stdio.h>
#include "pico/stdlib.h"
#include "pirate.h"
#include "system_config.h"
#include "translation/en-us.h"
#include "translation/zh-cn.h"
#include "translation/nl-nl.h"

char **t;
  • Locate /translation/base.c in the source code.
  • Include your translation file at the end of the list.

Add translation to switch​

switch(language)
{
    case 2:
        t = (char **) &nl_nl;
        break;       
    case 1:
        t = (char **) &zn_ch;
        break;
    case 0:
    default:
        t = (char **) &en_us;
        break;
}
  • Locate the switch statement in /translation/base.c. This is the logic for switching the active language.
  • Add a new case to the switch for your translation.
  • Be sure to use the next available case number so your translation is available from the configuration menu. For example our nl_nl translation becomes case 2.

Add language string for configuration menu​

[T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_ENGLISH]="English",
[T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_CHINESE]="Chinese (simplified)",
[T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_DUTCH]="Dutch",
  • Open translation/en-us.h
  • Add a key and value for the language menu option in the translation array
  • Here, we added T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_DUTCH
  • Run translation/json2h.py to rebuild all the headers with this new string
danger

The firmware will not compile and throw an error if the entry isn't included in each translation file by running json2h.py.

Add translation to the language menu struct​

static const struct prompt_item menu_items_language[]=
{
    {T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_ENGLISH},{T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_CHINESE},{T_CONFIG_LANGUAGE_DUTCH}
};
  • Locate /ui/ui_config.c in the source code.
  • Add your enumerated key to the menu_items_language struct.
  • Your translation is now included in the list of available languages in the configuration menu.

Compile the firmware and test​

Bus Pirate [/dev/ttyS0]
HiZ> c

Configuration options
1. Language
2. ANSI color mode
3. ANSI toolbar mode
4. LCD screensaver
5. LED effect
6. LED color
7. LED brightness
x.
> 1

Language
1. English
2. Chinese (simplified)
3. Dutch
x.
>
  • Compile the firmware and load it into the Bus Pirate.
  • Your translation should appear in the configuration menu.

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