OmegaT and the Okapi Framework plugin for OmegaT

Introducing the Okapi Framework plugin for OmegaT

This is a summary for people who want a "shortcut".

[Updated Feb. 1st 2022 with link and version updates]

The Okapi Framework is "a cross-platform and free open-source set of components and applications that offer extensive support for localizing and translating documentation and software."

https://okapiframework.org

From very early on the people behind the Okapi Framework have helped OmegaT users with a number of facilities, among which the "Filters Plugin for OmegaT", which brings transparent support for file formats such as:

• Doxygen-commented files
• HTML files
• InDesign IDML files
• JSON files
• Markdown projects.
• Transifex projects.
• TS files
• Trados TagEditor TTX files
• Wordfast pro TXML files
• XLIFF 1.2 files
• XLIFF 2.x files
• XML files (with or without ITS support)
• YAML files

https://okapiframework.org/wiki/index.php?title=Okapi_Filters_Plugin_for_OmegaT

Basic requirement

Make sure you have a recent version of OmegaT (use version 4 and above).

https://omegat.org/download

To use the plugin in OmegaT

1. Enter your OmegaT configuration folder by using the Options > Access Configuration Folder menu in OmegaT
2. If there is no "plugins" folder in that configuration folder, create one

   

   Create the "plugins" folder if it is not already there.
3. Download the plugin from the distribution site (1.9-1.41 at the time of this writing): https://okapiframework.org/wiki/index.php?title=Okapi_Filters_Plugin_for_OmegaT#Download_and_Installation 
4. Unzip if necessary, check the readme.html file if you want
5. Copy the okapiFiltersForOmegaT-1.9-1.41.jar file to the OmegaT plugins folder that you identified above
6. Restart OmegaT

Once you have installed the plugin, open OmegaT's File Filters preferences (Options > File Filters...) You should see a number of filters that have their name appended with "(Okapi)".

The additional filters provided by the Okapi plugin

Et voilà.

Now, 3 things

1. [obvious, but it doesn't cost much to repeat]
   If anything doesn't work as planned, carefully read the information in the links above and see that you have followed all the instructions and checked all the requirements. This article is only a summary.
2. [beginner level]
   OmegaT already has native filters for some of the Okapi filters. If you want OmegaT to use the Okapi filters, uncheck the native filters.
3. [advanced level]
   The Okapi filters have a default behavior that is reasonable enough. If you want to modify that behavior, you'll need to create a custom filter parameters file (.fprm extension) from within Rainbow. You'll use OmegaT's filter specific options (select the Okapi filter in OmegaT's Filter Filters interface, click on "Options...") to select that file so that OmegaT uses it.
   
   

   

   Adding a parameter file to customize the Okapi XLIFF filter behavior

Okapi tools on OSX...

In my "Okapi tools for Mono" post, last November, I discussed the possibility to use Okapi on OSX without installing Parallels/VMWare/WhateverVirtualSolutionYouPrefer and Windows and .NET... Which in the end makes Okapi a very expensive free tool...

Okapi has recently been released to work on Mono, the free (as a bird) version of .NET and I've promised myself to install everything and try the package as soon as I'd have a job requiring it.

This job has come. At last. It is a small set of InDesign files (that will eventually end up being Illustrator files) that are part of a much bigger translation package...

So, at the time of writing, here is the procedure you need to follow to get everything to work:

(Beware, Okapi for mono does not come with a graphical interface and everything must be done in the Terminal, at the command line. It is not terribly hard but not super trivial either for the translator who is not used to that. For people who need an introduction to working with the Terminal on OSX, check this link.)

1. Download Mono (1.2.6 at the time of the post):
   
   http://www.go-mono.com/mono-downloads/download.html


2. Install it by clicking on the package file and following the instructions.


3. Download Okapi for Mono (R00020 at the time of the post):
   
   http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=42949
   


4. Unzip/untar the package and read the ReadMe_ForMono.htm file found in the Tikal folder


5. Do what the file says under "Using the Okapi tools"
   
   (for some reason, I am yet unable to properly set the path to Okapi...)

When this is done, you'll need to take a look at the Mono for OSX page to know how to use the beast.

Basically, it comes down to opening the Terminal and typing:

$ mono ~/bin/OkapiMono/Tikal/Tikal.exe

Here, I've left my path to Tikal because I could not set it properly in the install step. But a proper install should accept:

$ mono Tikal.exe

Running only Tikal.exe without any arguments will have the application display its basic help where you'll see what you need to type to do a few basic things, like:

$ mono Tikal.exe -lf
to list the available filters.

Just for your information, since you can find that on the Okapi help pages too, here are the filters that are directly available from the Mono command line:

• okf_po (Okapi PO Filter)


• okf_properties (Okapi Properties Filter)


• okf_script (Okapi Script Filter)


• okf_netres (Okapi NETRes Filter)


• okf_rc (Okapi RC Filter)


• okf_xml (Okapi XML Filter)


• okf_wordfast (Okapi Wordfast Filter)


• okf_tradostext (Okapi Trados Text Filter)


• okf_illustrator (Okapi Illustrator Filter)


• okf_table (Okapi Table Filter)


• okf_inx (Okapi INX Filter)


• okf_html (Okapi HTML Filter (ALPHA TEST ONLY)
)

• okf_json (Okapi JSON Filter)

If you use the parameter -lu you'll get a list of available utilities:

• oku_set01:extraction


• oku_set01:merging


• oku_set01:rewriting


• oku_set01:encodingconversion


• oku_set01:lbconversion


• oku_set01:bomconversion


• oku_set02:qualitycheck


• oku_set02:update


• oku_set02:rtfconversion


• oku_set02:xsltransformation


• oku_set02:twbanalysis


• oku_set02:rtfsplitting


• oku_set02:alignment


• oku_set02:rtftotmx


• oku_set03:alignment


• oku_set04:dnllistedit


• oku_set04:xliffsplitting


• oku_set04:xliffconcatenation


• oku_set04:tmxsplittingdup


• oku_set04:xliffconversion


• oku_set04:proofreading


• oku_set04:searchandreplace


• oku_set04:uriconversion


• oku_set04:cdataconversion


• oku_set04:xmlpruning


• oku_set04:ttx2tmx


• oku_set04:xmlpartitioning

All the filters and utilities etc require specific parameters to run. Check the Okapi for Mono manual that comes with the download to know how to use all that.

Don't forget that Okapi has a very nice user group managed by Yves Savourel, the developer. It is possible to access the archives without having to subscribe to it.

Et voilà ! That is pretty much everything you need to know to get started... I hope that helped !