"Probability score": 0.8

"Question improvement suggestion": Please provide the version of Trados Studio you are using and any error messages you may have encountered. Also, it would be helpful to know if you have tried any troubleshooting steps already.

In the meantime, based on the information you have provided, here is a suggested answer to your question:

Hello Bodo,

To set an XML comment as a segment separator or inline element in Trados Studio, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Trados Studio and go to the "File Types" settings.

Step 2: Select the XML file type you are working with.

Step 3: Go to the "Parser Rules" section.

Step 4: Here, you can define how Trados Studio should handle XML comments. If you want the XML comment to act as a segment separator, you can add it as a "Structure" element. If you want it to be an inline tag, you can add it as an "Inline" element.

Step 5: To add a new rule, click on the "New" button and enter the XPath expression for the XML comment. The XPath for an XML comment is typically "//comment()".

Please note that the exact steps may vary depending on the version of Trados Studio you are using.

I hope this answer addressed your question. If not, please reject the answer, add the question improvement suggestion information, and click the RWS Community AI checkbox on the right to try again.

RWS Community AI

I've tried to use //comment(), comment() and /test/text/comment() as XPATH, this doesn't work.

Bodo Tiegel 

Do you want to do this to be able to translate it or just manage it in some way?  I ask because comments in XML are not normally intended for translation as they are intended to be processing instructions.  They're usually meant for developers, translators, or systems as notes, explanations, or debugging hints.  The XML specification also clarifies this point stating the following:

"An XML processor MAY, but need not, make it possible for an application to retrieve the text of comments."

Trados Studio has taken the approach not to extract the comments for translation.  So if you want to extract for translation you'd have to do some pre-processing and content the comment markup into proper tags so you can expose the content for translation, then post process to remove them and add the comment markup back again.

If you just want to be able to see them you can hover over the comments as they are "tagged" as a placeholder automatically by the XML filetype:

Or... you could even use a stylesheet to show them in the preview:

Here's a couple of files to test in case it's helpful: xml_xsl.zip

Hi Paul,

thank you for your answer. Maybe I should explain my problem detailledly: I've got a Docufy Cosima XML file (based on XML2 settings) where the CMS puts comments in the middle of segments. However Trados Studio 2024 breaks this segment up into two segments while it's only one if the comment gets removed first.

So my question was how to understand better, how XML comments work in Trados. I don't need to translate the comment contents, no.

I've created test xml filetype definitions and in my test the comment appears as an inline tag, like in your example. The question is, in this Cosima filetype, why does it separate the segment and how can I convert the comment into an inline tag?

If needed, I can prepare sample data.

Best regards,

Bodo

Bodo Tiegel 

Good idea... and a sample of the offending elements is essential as this is clearly going to be the cause of your problem.

Paul 

I've prepared a sample package. I initially thought it was a systematic problem but it looks more like an error of Studio's tag handling to me...

In XML:

Present XML comment removes leading tag:

After removing the XML comment, the leading tag is present:

I attach the XMLs and package...

Out.zip

Best regards,

Bodo

Bodo Tiegel 

Patrik Mazanek would know better, but I think I'd agree with you.  Like this:

<p> <y.textvar name="Gerätebezeichnung"/><!--HYPO-5536--> darf nur an eine Hauptstromversorgung mit integriertem Schutzleiter angeschlossen werden, das den Anforderungen eines Krankenhauses entspricht.</p>

We see this:

If I add a char 'X' anywhere as translatable text before the comment we see both inline tags:

or...

In all cases the tag prior to the comment is set as:

Translate = Yes
Tag Type = Inline
Segmentation Hint = Include

The typical behaviour of Studio is so remove inline tags that appear at the start of the segment because it tries to keep the segment clean and considers you won't need the tags at the start.  In this case the comment (automatically tagged) and the inline tag seem to be linked together as one and both get excluded.  My personal opinion of this is the behaviour is wrong because I should be able to specify how I wish the tags to be controlled and not have Trados Studio do this for me despite the rule I applied.

But hopefully Patrik Mazanek  can advise if this is a bug we need to report, or explain the error of our ways :-)

Thank you very much, Paul !

It is currently not possible change processing behavior for XML comments.

Patrik Mazanek 

Thanks Patrik... although that wasn't the question.  This is more about the handling of tags that appear at the start of the sentence, or the end.  Trados Studio shouldn't ignore the need to always include them, but it does.

If it's only the comment, then your point is understood since this is handled automatically anyway because we don't provide a mechanism to control it.  So I get this would be a bigger job.  But the ask here relates to normal tags that we can control, and can set a rule to say "Always include me with the text".  Currently, Studio is ignoring this rule.

Patrik Mazanek 

Thanks Patrik... although that wasn't the question.  This is more about the handling of tags that appear at the start of the sentence, or the end.  Trados Studio shouldn't ignore the need to always include them, but it does.

If it's only the comment, then your point is understood since this is handled automatically anyway because we don't provide a mechanism to control it.  So I get this would be a bigger job.  But the ask here relates to normal tags that we can control, and can set a rule to say "Always include me with the text".  Currently, Studio is ignoring this rule.

I don't think there is any problem with the segmentation rules - best to get support logging a ticket with concrete sample data.

Yes, the mere existence of the comment provokes that Trados Studio skips the leading y.textvar element. Once the comment is removed, the leading y.textvar element is shown.

Link to sample is above...