Finally I got some time to finish publishing this small update to the Translator. The update itself was finished several weeks ago but deployment was a little bit of a challenge.
Get the new version here:
http://juliocasal.com/translator
Let me quickly review the new features of this version:
1. Configurable Translation Engine. This is by far the main feature of this version. You can now choose your favorite translation engine among Google and Microsoft. Each of them have some features that the other lack (like Google being much more accurate, while Microsoft being able to handle larger texts) so it’s good to be able to choose!
2. Text To Speech now powered by Microsoft Bing. There was no public/supported API from Google, so I decided to try Microsoft’s one (which is supported and very well documented). Plus Microsoft’s engine supports a couple of more languages than Google.
3. The Translator is back in Windows Azure. Yes, I moved the previous version of the Translator away from Windows Azure and now I’m putting it back in there. This is because now I have a pretty long evaluation period of Azure, thanks to the Bizspark account I got a couple of months ago (thanks Microsoft!). Azure is a great choice for the Translator as I can host the application there, plus it’s backend WCF service and the SQL Server Azure DB that records some info for me. This will free some of the bandwidth that was being consumed in my shared hosting and allows me to see a real app in action in Windows Azure, which is pretty exciting!
That’s all for this minor revision. Still got tons of ideas for this app in the future, hopefully I get some time to work on them soon. All feedback is very welcome.
Enjoy!
Julio
In 2007 I created a small Translator gadget for the Windows Vista sidebar. It was a pretty simple mix of HTML and javascript that would invoke some Babelfish Web page in order to get the translations. A year later I totally rebuild the gadget in order to use the official Google Language API and Microsoft Silverlight 2.0, which would allow me to present a much friendly user experience and add more features without the complexities of staying in a javascript world. I didn’t expect it but the Translator became the most popular gadget in the Spanish version of Windows Live Gallery (you can still get it here).
Today I’m pleased to announce version 3 of the Translator, which finally includes several of the features and fixes that lots of people have been asking for. You can get the new Translator here:
http://juliocasal.com/Translator
Here a screenshot of the new Translator:
And here some of its features, from the development point of view:
- It’s build on top of the just released Silverlight 4.0 and deployed as an out of browser application, which removes most of the limitations of running inside the Windows sidebar.
- It is now appropriately localized for English and Spanish so it will display an Spanish UI if your machine uses the Spanish version of Windows, and English otherwise.
- It no longer uses Windows Azure for storing the Silverlight xap file and the Translation Web Service. This is not because Azure is not good (it’s actually pretty cool) but because the trial ended and I just don’t have money to pay for it.
- It can be maximized as much as you like in order to allow you to translate big amounts of texts.
- It does not require you to have your Internet connection as soon as you login to Windows as it is now installed in your machine and only requires Internet when you fire the Translate button.
- It will detect when your Internet connection goes down or comes back and give an appropriate friendly error message if no Internet is available.
- It will allow you to listen to the translated text in English, French, German, Haitian Creole, Italian and Spanish. This uses an unofficial API from Google, but seems to work pretty well. Only small texts supported for text to speech in this version (up to 100 chars aprox).
- It now includes mouse Copy/Paste functionality (thanks Silverlight 4!).
- It now works in both Windows 32 bits and 64 bits. The 64 bits scenario was just not possible while running inside the Windows sidebar.
- It includes a nice auto update model so it will detect when a new version of the Translator is available and prompt you to just restart the app to apply the update.
I really hope this new release will fulfill people’s expectations and be a very useful utility to keep in your desktop. If you got any feedback you’d like to share with me please go ahead and write your question or comment in the new forums I prepared over here.
I already have some ideas for the next version, so if you know of something you’d like to see in there just let me know!
Julio
If you got any training need in Mexico City on Microsoft development tools and technologies like .NET Framework, Visual Studio, Silverlight, Team Foundation Server or related stuff, let me know!
You can leave me a comment on this post or going to the Contact page.
Julio
This is the final part of my Working with Visual Studio 2010 video series. So far we have covered these topics in previous parts:
In the last part of the series I show how to track the progress of your team using the new SharePoint Dashboards and the SQL Server Reporting Services that are part of the Team Foundation Server 2010 installation.
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I hope this video series was of any help to anybody interested in learning about Visual Studio 2010, TFS 2010 and Team Build 2010. The series end here mostly because I have already shown most of what I wanted to show and also because Visual Studio 2010 RC is around the corner and I don’t want to mix stuff of Beta 2 with RC.
If there’s anything you’d like to see (or not to see anymore) on this blog please let me know, feedback is greatly appreciated!
Julio
This is part 10 of my Working with Visual Studio 2010 video series. So far we have covered these topics in previous parts:
In part 10 I show how to use Team Build 2010 to prepare a Continuous Integration build definition for the BookStore application. Continuous integration is a best practice that makes sure that any time a developer checks-in some code a new build is triggered, allowing the team to quickly find broken builds and fix them early in the development process.
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As a side note I just want to highlight that the WMV video that you can download from the above link has better quality than the Youtube video, mostly because of Youtube processing of the video which, for some reason, reduces quality and un-syncs the video from the audio. Download the video for the best quality.
Enjoy!
Julio