understanding sdlxliff files

Question

Hi, 
 
 I would like to programm an online tool (maybe as offline app later on) in order to automatically alter existing SDLXLIFF and xliff files (and maybe also for other translation file types). 
 From what I understood it is not possible to create new sdlxliff files without using Trados, right? 
 Another question I have is about the tag <internal-file ...> within sdlxliff files: what is all this "garbage" about? 
 I guess it's encrypted or compressed information about how Trados should handle the file, but can I alter the rest of the file e.g. by adding (sub)segments or other information without having to change this part? Or is it not possible outside of Trados as this part would also need to be changed during that process? 
 Are there other things I need to pay attention to? 
 
 regards, 
 Pascal

Jesse Good · Accepted Answer

Hi Pascal 
 Here is the XML Schema that documents every SDL extension to the XLIFF format. You can use this to validate your SDLXLIFF after you modify it. I believe as long as your SDLXLIFF conforms to this schema (and the XLIFF schema), it can be loaded in Trados Studio! 
 Sdl.FileTypeSupport.Bilingual.SdlXliff.Xliff.sdl-FilterFramework2-1.0.xsd.zip 
 
 P.S.: Sorry for not replying back to your questions about my Cleanup Plugin! I will try to get to them sometime (work is busy...)

Evzen Polenka · Answer

Unknown said: who said I did not know about xliff structure. I already know about that reference page. ;) 
 Then I would expect you already tried to base64-decode the content and found out yourself that it's the source file (as the "original" attribute of the "file" element already suggests). And since you asked that newbie-like question... 
 Modifying SDLXLIFF without SDL's framework can be very tricky... for example even "prettying" the SDLXLIFF XML structure prevents the SDLXLIFF from being opened afterwards... That most probably means that something actually relies on physical position inside the SDLXLIFF file rather than on the XML structure... I'm just guessing and never actually did any further research, but the following pretty much support this idea (content is pretty-printed for demonstration purpose) :

Andreas Galambos · Answer

Hi Pascal, 
 
 " Even when trying to decode (base64) it I only get garbage as a result." 
 
 That is not garbage but the original file in its binary form. You can guess the file format by looking at the "magic number", i.e. the first two characters. If your "garbage" starts with "&ETH;&Iuml;", it means you have an office document (doc, xls or ppt), if it starts with "PK" you have some sort of ZIP file, e.g. doc, xlsx, idml, etc. The latter case is the simplest. Just save this "garbage" as a file, rename it ".zip" unpack it and have a look. ;-)

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understanding sdlxliff files

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