BirdName

Version 1.01

Translate bird names from one language to another with this HTA.
This HTA uses Wikipedia to translate from a "local" language to the scientific name, and from the scientific name to one or more "local" names.

Check "Use local language names" to list the available languages each in their own language instead of listing the English language names. Choose the number of simultaneous translations. Click "Hide Settings" to move the settings out of sight (until you restart the HTA) when ready.
These settings are not permanent. To make them stick, you will need 2 configuration files with the appropriate settings.
Click the "Configure" button to create or edit these configuration files.
Pressing F1 or clicking the "Help" button will display some help on usage and configuration/customization.

BirdName, Version 1.00
Use Wikipedia to translate bird names from and to (m)any language(s).

You can use this program to translate a bird name from one of the supported "local" languages to any of the other supported languages.
The program will first search the scientific name on Wikipedia and then translate that scientific name to the language of choice.
Alternatively, you can enter the scientific name yourself, and the program will translate it to the language(s) of choice.
With the buttons you can search Wikipedia interactively for the requested translations.

Settings

If Use local language names is checked, the list of available languages shows the local language names (e.g. "Français", "Cymraeg"), if not checked the English language names are listed instead (e.g. "French", "Welsh").

simultaneous translations controls the number of translations shown; it ranges from 1 to 4.

To change settings permanently, click the button, next to the "Settings" header, to open the configuration files in Notepad (see the chapter "Customization" for more details).

Click to move the Settings block out of sight (it will reappear next time the program is started).

Program Updates

This program automatically checks for updates.
If an update is available, a notification area will pop up at the top of the window, with the new version and a link to the update page.
If AutoUpdate is enabled, the program is updated "on-the-fly" without notification (see the chapter "Customization" for more details).

Click to move the notification out of sight.
Unless you update the program, the notification will reappear next time the program is started.

Restrictions

This program uses Wikipedia to find the requested translations.
Thus it depends on:

the full name being entered, exactly as used on Wikipedia (e.g. "Great Bittern" instead of "Bittern")
a page dedicated to the bird of choice in each language of choice
redirection of the scientific name to the local name
Wikipedia's page layout remaining more or less unchanged

It may be clear that these conditions may not always be met.
If no translation was found because there is no dedicated page, use the button next to the "Translation" field to search for the name yourself.

Ambiguity, multiple "local" names, or the use of an incomplete name or group name instead of the species' full name, may prevent the program to find the scientific name.
That is where the button next to the "Scientific Name" field comes to the rescue.
Click it to find the scientific name yourself, or look it up in a printed bird guide.
Once found, clear the "Bird Name" field and use the "Scientific Name" field to find the requested translations.
If you still can't find the translation that way, this program cannot assist you any further.

Customization

You may use a configuration file named BirdName.cfg, to customize the window size, default input and output languages and number of simultaneous translations.
BirdName.cfg is an ANSI encoded (or "ASCII") plain text file, located in BirdName.hta's parent folder.
Examine the default settings shown below to find out what you can customize and how:

AutoUpdate=0

		ConfigLanguage=en

		DefaultLanguage=en

		NumTrans=4

		TransLang1=nl

		TransLang2=de

		TransLang3=es

		TransLang4=da

		WindowHeight=768

		WindowWidth=1024

Note: AutoUpdate=1 will update the HTA to the latest version without any user interaction.

Besides the program settings, you can also customize (translate) the captions and button labels.
This requires an ANSI encoded (or "ASCII") plain text file named BirdName.lang, located in BirdName.hta's parent folder, where lang is the language code specified by ConfigLanguage in BirdName.cfg (e.g. en).
Unicode or extended ASCII characters in all text except button labels must be escaped (e.g. Ü for Ü).
You may have to experiment with code page settings when using extended ASCII characters in translated button labels.
Examine BirdName.en, shown below, to figure out what you can customize and how:

BirdName=Bird Name

		Configure=Configure

		Download=Download

		Help=Help

		HideSettings=Hide Settings

		HideUpdateNotification=Hide Notification

		NotABird=Not a bird

		OrAmbiguous=or ambiguous name

		ScientificName=Scientific Name

		Search=Search Wikipedia

		Settings=Settings

		SimultaneousTranslations=simultaneous translations

		Translate=Translate

		Translation=Translation

		UpdateNow=Update Now

		UseLocalLanguageNames=Use local language names

Open the configuration files by clicking the button, next to the "Settings" header.

Change one setting at a time and examine the effect.
If the result is a complete mess, just delete BirdName.cfg (and optionally BirdName.lang) to restore the default settings.

© 2011 Rob van der Woude
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/birdname.php

In the "Bird name" block, at the left end, choose a "source" language and enter a bird name in the field in the middle.
Select a language for each "Translation" block.
Click "Translate" to start the translation.

The HTA will first search Wikipedia in the selected language for the bir's scientific name, which will be displayed in the "Scientific Name" block, if found.
If no scientific name was found, a button "Search Wikipedia" will appear. Click it to find the scientific name yourself. Once found, clear the "local" bird name field, enter the scientific name in the appropriate field and click "Translate".
This may be necessary if the name entered is ambiguous for Wikipedia.

The translation fields will be populated with the search results for the scientific name on the "local" Wikipedias.
If no valid result was returned, a button "Search Wikipedia" will appear next to the translation field, to allow a manual search on the local Wikipedia.

Read the help screen to learn more about customization.
The following configuration files change the HTA into a Dutch version with 3 simultaneous translations.

BirdName.cfg:

AutoUpdate=0
ConfigLanguage=nl
DefaultLanguage=en
NumTrans=3
TransLang1=nl
TransLang2=de
TransLang3=es
TransLang4=it
WindowHeight=768
WindowWidth=1024

BirdName.nl:

BirdName=Vogelsoort
Configure=Aanpassen
Download=Download
Help=Help
HideSettings=Verbergen
HideUpdateNotification=Verbergen
NotABird=Geen vogel
OrAmbiguous=of geen eenduidige naam
ScientificName=Wetenschappelijke naam
Search=Zoek op Wikipedia
Settings=Instellingen
SimultaneousTranslations=gelijktijdige vertalingen
Translate=Vertaal
Translation=Vertaling
UpdateNow=Update
UseLocalLanguageNames=Gebruik lokale taalaanduidingen

Note: These configuration files are included in the ZIP file; beta version configuration files should be deleted or modified.

If your HTA version is not the latest "stable" release, an update notification will be visible at the top of the window.
Clicking the "Download" button will open the BirdName download page in your default browser.
Clicking the "Update Now" button will overwrite the currently running HTA with the latest "stable" release, after a prompt for confirmation.
Setting AutoUpdate=1 in BirdName.cfg will update without any user interaction.

Change History

Version	Release Date (yyyy-mm-dd)	Changes
1.01	2012-03-12	Bugfix: a change in Wikipedia's HTML code required a modification in the regular expressions the HTA uses.
1.00	2011-12-20	First "official" release. Added a "Configure" button to modify the program defaults and/or translations Added a "Clear" button to clear all fields "Search Wikipedia" buttons will always be shown The Help screen now uses the captions and labels as configured by the user Fixed an issue with configured window size greater than the actual screen size Note: Configuration files created for a beta version will need to be updated or replaced
0.32	2011-12-18	Added AutoUpdate, allowing updates without any user interaction
0.31	2011-12-18	Added a prompt for confirmation to the update procedure Fixed a bug in the update procedure
0.30	2011-12-17	The update notification area has been changed: instead of only a link to the download page, it now has "Download" and "Update" buttons; clicking the latter will replace the currently running HTA with the latest "stable" release, no questions asked The single configuration file has been replaced by a separate settings file and translation file(s); previous configuration files can no longer be used
0.25	2011-12-14	Improved the regular expression to find the scientific names: it can now handle 2 different scientific names for 1 bird (e.g. Blue Tit) If the "translation" returns the scientific name, a "Search Wikipedia" button will show up
0.24	2011-12-13	Improved the regular expression to find the scientific name (e.g. now finds the scientific name for the Dutch "pimpelmees")
0.23	2011-12-12	Slightly improved accuracy by limiting the search to birds Added new customization options Pimped the window background Updated the help text
0.22	2011-12-09	Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent the "Search Wikipedia" button to appear if no scientific name was found Fixed some issues with the GUI when a local and scientific name were entered at the same time Updated the help text
0.21	2011-12-08	First public beta release.

Checksums:
File name:
MD5:
SHA1:

birdname_hta.zip
cd30de7879e15fa9275ec25cb6687b6d
cf3179cc56b066dcdecc7825786636fe39ee1d60