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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... 2
ABOUT THIS GUIDE ........................................................................................................................... 3
WHY DELIVER CONTENT WITHIN SDL MULTITERM .................................................................... 4
Benefits................................................................................................................................................. 4
Requirements ....................................................................................................................................... 4
THE PROCESS: HOW TO CREATE AND DELIVER CONTENT IN NATIVE MULTITERM
FORMAT .............................................................................................................................................. 6
The process from a Birds Eye View .................................................................................................... 6
Step 1 Convert the Content............................................................................................................... 6
Step 2 Create the Termbase, Copyright the Content ....................................................................... 7
Step 3 Import ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Step 4 Customize the Content .......................................................................................................... 8
Step 5 Protect the Content ................................................................................................................ 9
Step 6 Deliver the Content .............................................................................................................. 10
THE FORMAT: MULTITERM XML ................................................................................................... 12
Concept-Oriented, Three-Level Approach ......................................................................................... 12
Important XML Elements.................................................................................................................... 13
Sample ............................................................................................................................................... 13
RECOMMENDED DEPLOYMENT LOCATION FOR LOCAL TERMBASE FILES ........................ 15
Microsoft Windows XP ....................................................................................................................... 15
Microsoft Windows 7 .......................................................................................................................... 15
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How to customize the look and feel of a MultiTerm termbase, so that it looks like an
embedded dictionary delivered from a publishing house.
How to recognize the issuer of the content by providing visual and textual copyright
information.
How the MultiTerm exchange format works, the reasoning behind MultiTerm XML, the
internal and external data structure (XML schema).
The intended audience for this guide is the termbase and dictionary providers who want to
deliver their content in native MultiTerm format.
The guide is written as part of the SDL Open Exchange Program, to encourage organizations to
provide their content as MultiTerm termbases.
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B ENEFITS
User Experience. Today, users work with both termbases and e-dictionaries. A user therefore
opens at least two applications: SDL MultiTerm and the dictionary application. Users are asking
to have their dictionaries or other termbases directly available in MultiTerm so that they only
need to run one application.
Integration. Today, only real MultiTerm termbases are available in the powerful language
technology applications, such as SDL Trados Studio, SDL Passolo, SDL AuthorAssistant, or
simply Microsoft Word. Dictionaries or other content databases are not available in these
applications. Delivering them as MultiTerm termbases would make them available in all
applications that can use MultiTerm.
Easy Delivery. Although users can convert some dictionaries or termbases into MultiTerm
format, the conversion usually requires some effort. Having the content readily available in
MultiTerm format would significantly increase the user base. Using a clear delivery channel, any
MultiTerm user could easily access these databases.
Powerful Features. Some dictionary applications and other terminology tools have good
search features; others have rather limited features. Some are only web based applications.
Some are only locally available in a CD-ROM way. Having the databases available in MultiTerm
format would provide MultiTerm features such as fuzzy and full-text search, and term
recognition, as well as providing local, intranet, extranet and browser based access.
R EQUIREMENTS
SDL MultiTerm provides features to deploy dictionary content just like a native termbase. To do
this and have a compelling solution several requirements had to be met:
Protection of content: The database needs to be encrypted and frozen (read-only)
Protection of language directionality: Dictionaries are usually unidirectional (only one
language is source), whereas termbases are usually multidirectional (any language
can become source).
Attachment of reference information: A dictionary contains not only the list of word
lemmas but also reference information about how to use the dictionary.
Maintenance of look and feel: Publishing houses have a very strong branding and
corporate identity (for example, the blue L on a yellow background for the Munich
based publisher Langenscheidt).
Distinction between termbase and dictionary: The application needs to guarantee
that the user can easily distinguish between the content that comes from a foreign,
copyrighted dictionary and the content that comes from an organizations in-house
termbase.
SDL MultiTerm fulfills these requirements and provides simultaneous and integrated access to
termbases and dictionary content.
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Users
Client applications
MultiTerm
read/write
Termbase
read only
Dictionary
Page 5
B IRD S E YE V IEW
C REATION W ORKFLOW
Convert the original source data into MultiTerm XML format.
Convert
Prepare
Create and set up an empty termbase. The Converted data will go here.
Add meta-information to the termbase, for example an icon or copyright information.
Remove any layout, import and export definitions that are not required.
Customize Add layouts that reflect the brand of the content provider.
Protect
Freeze the termbase (to make it read-only) and, optionally, time-stamp it.
Encrypt the termbase (to avoid undesired textual dumps).
This termbase file, say mytermbase.sdltb, is now the master termbase for a given dictionary. It
wont need any changes until the corpus is updated.
D EPLOYMENT METHOD L OCAL T ERMBASE (. SDLTB
FILE )
The deployment of a local termbase is very easy. Send or provide access to the .sdltb file that
was created as described in the Creation Workflow diagram. It can be opened by any MultiTerm
client application.
D EPLOYMENT METHOD S ERVER T ERMBASE (M ICROSOFT SQL S ERVER D ATA I MAGE )
If you created an SDL MultiTerm Server/SDL MultiTerm Team served termbase, then the data is
available as an SQL Server database rather than as a simple local file. Logically, you want to
provide this for use within SDL MultiTerm Server/SDL MultiTerm Team. You cannot simply send
the data file. Instead, store the SQL Server data image as an archive and provide this via a
Restore Database operation in other SQL Server instances.
Let us now inspect the relevant steps in more detail.
Note: The MultiTerm XML schema is available as part of the SDL MultiTerm TDK. It is also
available as a reference document in any desktop installation of SDL MultiTerm.
W HICH METHOD
TO
U SE
TO
C ONVERT
TO
Spreadsheet and database exchange. These formats include tab-delimited text files and
CSV files. Many relational database systems can export data to one of these formats;
which gives you great flexibility in the kinds of source data that you can convert.
Microsoft Excel (XLS files). MultiTerm Convert directly supports Excel 2002/2003/2007.
You need Microsoft Excel installed on your computer to convert a file of this type.
If your data is not available in one of these formats, you need to develop your own conversion
engine. In this case you should be familiar with XML technologies and with the target format,
MultiTerm XML.
D EFINE
YOUR
In addition to the data conversion, you also decide which fields are shown in the termbase, and
where. SDL MultiTerm is a fully free structured text database, so any text field can be located
anywhere in the entry. During termbase conversion you decide where a converted field (for
example a field stored in an Excel column), should be located in the tree structure of a
MultiTerm entry.
If you use SDL MultiTerm Convert during the conversion process then the so-called termbase
definition is automatically created for you; this is stored in an XDT file. The XDT file stores
information about the languages (indexes1) of the termbase, and about the termbase fields,
including where the fields are used.
If you are not using SDL MultiTerm Convert, then to create the termbase definition, you will
need to specify which languages and fields are in your MultiTerm XML file. You can then use
the MultiTerm Termbase Definition Wizard to create the XDT file.
Consult the SDL MultiTerm Online Help for more information about SDL MultiTerm Convert and
the Termbase Definition Wizard.
Historically, MultiTerm always used the term index to refer to languages (because they were indexed fields).
Throughout this guide, we use index and language as synonyms. In the longer term, all SDL terminology applications
will standardize on the more common term language and no longer use index.
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The Termbase Definition Wizard guides you through a couple of pages, where you select the
location where to store the termbase, which languages the termbase will contain, which fields,
and so on.
The wizard contains some sophisticated features that are particularly interesting in our context:
Reference and Copyright. You may want to make sure that the termbase is seen not as
a normal MultiTerm termbase, and instead clearly indicate that the termbase comes
from another organization or publishing house. On the Termbase Name page, select
the Add More Termbase Information button, and provide additional information, such as:
o
Consult the SDL MultiTerm Online Help for detailed information about the Termbase Definition
wizard.
S TEP 3 I MPORT
Now that you have a termbase to host the content and you have the MultiTerm XML file, you
can run the import. SDL MultiTerm allows you to specify import definitions. These determine
how to treat imported data for instance whether imported data should be merged with existing
data or should overwrite the existing data. In this case, since you are probably importing into an
empty termbase, choose the Default Import Definition.
When running the import, you have the option to run a slow or a fast import. The slow one is
recommended for a first import run, since it does additional verification checks, and also
compresses the database file at the end of the process.
For more information about the Import process, please consult the SDL MultiTerm Online help.
At the end of this step 2, the data is available as a read/write MultiTerm termbase, which can be
edited and managed in the same way as any other termbase.
S TEP 4 CUSTOMIZE
THE
C ONTENT
This is an optional step in the process. MultiTerm provides many catalog objects to help the
terminologist maintain termbases. The objects include filters, different layouts, input models and
masks for editing entries, import and export definitions. You may want to remove them, and
optionally add your own ones.
Important: All these built-in catalog objects have an attribute of system, and so you cannot use
the MultiTerm GUI to remove them from local termbases (although you can do so for the server
based termbases). For local termbases, use Microsoft Access to remove the built-in catalog
objects.
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R EMOVAL
OF
C ATALOG O BJECTS
You should remove all import definitions (if the import was fine), export definitions, filters and
most layouts. Important: leave one layout, or you will not be able to display an entry.
Run SDL MultiTerm or MultiTerm Administrator, open your termbase and navigate to the
Catalog View. You will see which objects are available; check that they all have the system
attribute. In MultiTerm Administrator you can delete the objects. For local termbases, do the
following:
1) Exit SDL MultiTerm.
This releases the lock on the termbase data file (mytermbase.sdltb).
2) Run Microsoft Access.
3) Open the termbase data file (mytermbase.sdltb).
A MultiTerm SDLTB file is an ordinary Microsoft Access file, even though it does not have
the normal Access extension, .mdb.
4) Open the table mtCatalog.
mtCatalog contains the references to all catalog objects in this termbase.
5) To remove MultiTerm access to an object, remove the corresponding row in the table. For
example, to remove the reference to the Default Export Definition, delete the row with the
ObjectID 8.
A DDING Y OUR
OWN
L AYOUTS
The internal entry structure in MultiTerm is the same as the MultiTerm XML format that you may
be familiar with. Therefore instead of using a built-in layout, you could use your own XSL
stylesheet to render the entry as you want.
1) Either run SDL MultiTerm and go to Catalog view, or run SDL MultiTerm Administrator and
expand the Public Objects branch for the appropriate termbase.
2) Right-click Layouts and choose the Load (or Load from file) command.
3) In the File Open dialog box choose your stylesheet. It normally has the extension .xdl.
The layout is now available to the termbase.
Important: Do not try to use MultiTerm to edit your own layout. Instead, you should set the
content to read-only.
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2) From the Catalog View or File menu choose the Reorganize command.
The Reorganize Termbases dialog box is displayed.
3) Select the termbase to reorganize.
4) Under Additional Data Protection select the protection attributes to apply, as follows.
Important: the application of these attributes cannot be undone:
o
You now have the final termbase image available that can be delivered.
AND
To make your data available as a termbase from SDL MultiTerm Server or SDL MultiTerm
Team, you need to deliver and deploy a SQL Server data file.
A. C REATE
In the right pane, note down the physical database name, for instance mxw_4.
B. D EPLOYMENT
OF A
SQL I MAGE
AT A
C USTOMER S S ITE
At the customer site, register the database with MultiTerm by adding the name of the
database to the master database. The master database is the database that contains a list
of all other MultiTerm databases at the current installation.
You will need the name of the master database. To find this, run MultiTerm Server Console
and double-click Databases.
To register the database with MultiTerm:
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FriendlyName
Description
Published
7) Make the termbase accessible by other users. (By default, the termbase is accessible
only by users super and guest). To do this, run SDL MultiTerm Administrator and add
users to the termbase access.
For more information, consult the SDL MultiTerm Online Help.
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You cannot use the SDL MultiTerm Convert application to convert data into MultiTerm
XML, and so need to develop your own conversion engine
You want to create custom layouts, i.e. XSL stylesheets, to render data.
MultiTerm XML is the internal and external format. It specifies the MultiTerm entry data
structure. Its approach is very similar to TBX, the LISA standardized TermBase eXchange
format. If you are familiar with TBX, MultiTerm XML will be easy to learn.
Entry Level
ID: 34
Language Level
Term Level
English
screen
German
monitor
Bildschirm
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At the entry level we have the entry number, which is a unique id for this entry. We also have
fields and information that belongs to the whole entry (concept) such as a Domain field (in our
sample, perhaps a field value like IT/Hardware).
At the language level is the information that belongs to all terms of one language for this
concept, for instance a Definition (since the definition of screen and of monitor is the same).
Finally, at the term level, is information that belongs only to the term, for instance a Gender field
(masculine for German Bildschirm, for instance) or a Context sample.
These additional fields, which help to illustrate and clarify the concept and terms, are called
Descriptive Fields.
A language specifier. The type attribute holds the "name" of the language as specified in the
termbase definition, the lang attribute the locale in the form "en_us".
< TERM G RP >
Groups one term and all its associated information, which can be descriptions, source
references, notes, and transactional information. termGrp has two important child elements:
term and descripGrp.
< TERM >
Contains a term as plain text.
< DESCRIP G RP >
Contains a descriptive element, such as a Definition. It has two important children: descrip
and descripGrp itself. This element is recursive, for example we could have a Comment to a
Definition.
<D ESCRIP >
Contains a descriptive, free-text element like a definition or a subject field.
These elements are important for MultiTerm entries. A valid MultiTerm XML file also has the
root element <mtf>, which in this case is the parent element to <conceptGrp>.
E XAMPLE
The simple example above has the following XML representation. Notice how the three levels
are achieved: termGrp inside a languageGrp inside a conceptGrp.
<conceptGrp>
<concept>1</concept>
Entry ID
<languageGrp>
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<termGrp>
<term>Bildschirm</term>
</termGrp>
</languageGrp>
<languageGrp>
</termGrp>
<termGrp>
<term>monitor</term>
</termGrp>
</languageGrp>
</conceptGrp>
If we had, for instance, a Gender field for the German term, the part of the document tree would
then look like the following:
<languageGrp>
<language lang="DE-DE" type="German"/>
<termGrp>
<term>Bildschirm</term>
<descripGrp>
<descrip
type=Gender>masc</descrip>
</descripGrp>
Opening a descripGrp
For instance, masc as masculine
</termGrp>
</languageGrp>
For this example you would set up an entry structure within the Termbase Definition Wizard, as
in the following screenshot:
A field called Gender is specified as a child field to Term level. Index level can contain the
languages English and German. There is no field specified directly below entry level.
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M ICROSOFT W INDOWS XP
After installation of SDL MultiTerm, the default folder where the Browse and File Open
commands start, is: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\SDL\SDL
MultiTerm. In this folder, which is only visible to the currently logged in user, are two
subfolders: Sample and Termbases. Sample is for a demo termbase shipped with MultiTerm,
Termbases is for the private user termbases.
Starting with SDL MultiTerm 2009 SP4, this folder also contains a shortcut, Other Termbases,
which points to the folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Shared
Termbases. That folder is visible to anyone who is logged into this computer, and is therefore a
good place to store content accessed by everyone. You should create a subfolder here that
includes your company name, and then store the termbase, for example:
.\Microsoft\EnglishGerman_October2010.sdltb or
.\HarperCollins\CollinsEnglishPro.sdltb
M ICROSOFT W INDOWS 7
After installation of SDL MultiTerm the default folder where the Browse and File Open
commands start, is: C:/Users/<username>/Documents/SDL/SDL MultiTerm. In this folder,
which is only visible to the currently logged in user, are two subfolders: Sample and Termbases.
Sample is for a demo termbase shipped with MultiTerm, Termbases is for the private user
termbases.
Starting with SDL MultiTerm 2009 SP4, this folder also contains a shortcut, Other Termbases,
which points to the folder C:/Users/Public/Public Termbases. That folder is visible to
anyone that is logged into this computer and is therefore a good place to store content that is
accessed by everyone. You should create a subfolder there that includes your company name
and then store the termbase, for example ./Microsoft/EnglishGerman_October2010.sdltb.
On both Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 7 there is also a shortcut in the Shared
Termbases (Public Termbases) folder, Find other Termbases on SDL OpenExchange. This
shortcut opens a browser at the site for the SDL OpenExchange platform. This site contains
termbases from other organizations, which you can install on your computer.
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