905933 - Improve plural form for AndXMoreFiles string

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

Description

[Théo Chevalier [:tchevalier] (PTO, back 09/09)]

Attachment: more-files.diff

I think many locales can't use plural form here.

I first localized the string like:
AndXMoreFiles=et %S supplémentaire;et %S supplémentaires

And got an error on the l10n dashboard because of the second %S.
Unless I'm missing something about arguments in plural forms, I think we should use #1 instead.

I fixed it for French this way, but it won't work for locales using other plural rules
AndXMoreFiles=et 1 supplémentaire;et %S supplémentaires

So here is a patch (untested) that should fix that.
Francesco, I think you know plural forms more than I do, did I miss something?

Comment 1

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Comment on attachment 791160 [details] [diff] [review]
more-files.diff

Thanks Théo, I saw this string yesterday and meant to look into it.

compare-locales determines if a string is using plural forms by searching the link in the associated l10n comment (specifically it searches for "Localization_and_Plurals"), so the problem is not #1 vs %S.

Example of a string using %S
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/file/1ed5a88cd4d0/browser/locales/en-US/chrome/browser/downloads/downloads.properties#l79

I wouldn't go with AndXMoreFiles2, but with a meaningful name and a more explicit localization comment (e.g. AndNumMoreFiles, AndNMoreFiles, etc.). Note: if you change the string, you need to update the reference in the comment too.

If the string is using plural forms but has no singular case, it should be ";String for plural", with an empty string for the singular case in English.

See for example
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/file/1ed5a88cd4d0/browser/locales/en-US/chrome/browser/browser.properties#l346

But in this case there should be a singular case, since it's not displaying the total count of files but total-20. You would notice it if the string was "and %s more files" (failing for 21).

# LOCALIZATION NOTE (AndNMoreFiles): Semi-colon list of plural forms. 
# See: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Localization_and_Plurals 
# This string is shown at the end of the tooltip text for <input type='file'
# multiple> when there are more than 21 files selected (when we will only list
# the first 20, plus an "and X more" line). %S will be the number of files
# minus 20.
AndNMoreFiles=and %S more;and %S more


Also this old string would definitely need plural form support
XFilesSelected=%S files selected.

Problem is that is used in a .cpp file, so no idea how to deal with that.

Comment 2

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #1)
> Also this old string would definitely need plural form support
> XFilesSelected=%S files selected.
> 
> Problem is that is used in a .cpp file, so no idea how to deal with that.

Filed bug 905943.

Comment 3

[Matthew N. [:MattN] (PM me if requests are blocking you)]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #1)
> But in this case there should be a singular case, since it's not displaying
> the total count of files but total-20. You would notice it if the string was
> "and %s more files" (failing for 21).

When I read the code, it seems like there isn't a singular case:
20 files chosen - 20 files shown - AndXMoreFiles string isn't shown
21 files chosen - 21 files shown - AndXMoreFiles string isn't shown
22 files chosen - 20 files shown - AndXMoreFiles string with 2 substituted
23 files chosen - 20 files shown - AndXMoreFiles string with 3 substituted

Basically, the tooltip is capped based on the number of lines to display (21), rather than the number of files chosen.

Comment 4

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

I think you're right, I based my comment on the l10n comment instead of the code. Can't verify yet since my nightly still doesn't include the change.

files.length = 21 -> complete list
files.length = 22 -> list plus tooltip with 2

At this point I think the string should mimic what happens for Show all tabs (you can also use #1 instead of %S, since it's the most common pattern in plural forms).

# LOCALIZATION NOTE (AndNMoreFiles): Semi-colon list of plural forms. 
# See: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Localization_and_Plurals 
# This string is shown at the end of the tooltip text for <input type='file'
# multiple> when there are more than 21 files selected (when we will only list
# the first 20, plus an "and X more" line). #1 represents the number of files
# minus 20 and will always be a number equal to or greater than 2.
AndNMoreFiles=;and #1 more

Comment 5

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

I can confirm from a text that the singular form is never used. 

For clarity (i.e. to be sure that localizers don't overlook the starting ";") I would leave the singular form in the string anyway, with the explanation in the preceding l10n comment about it never being used.

AndNMoreFiles=and one more;and #1 more

Théo, are you still on this?

Comment 6

[Théo Chevalier [:tchevalier] (PTO, back 09/09)]

Attachment: patch v2

Sorry for the delay :\
Thanks Francesco for your useful comments! I was almost sure I missed a lot of things.

If that's okay for you, I will ask enndeakin for review, then land it if that's a r+

Comment 7

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Comment on attachment 792304 [details] [diff] [review]
patch v2

Review of attachment 792304 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Théo, patch looks good to me.

Comment 8

[Théo Chevalier [:tchevalier] (PTO, back 09/09)]

(In reply to Francesco Lodolo [:flod] from comment #7)
> Comment on attachment 792304 [details] [diff] [review]
> patch v2
> 
> Review of attachment 792304 [details] [diff] [review]:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Thanks Théo, patch looks good to me.

Great, thanks!

Comment 9

[Théo Chevalier [:tchevalier] (PTO, back 09/09)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/2cec08a1b933

Comment 10

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/2cec08a1b933