en:docs:tk:tools:mkmsgf

MKMSGF

Brief

Build message file from message source file

Syntax

MKMSGF
drive path
infile
drive path
outfile
drive path
/?
/V
/Q
/D
/P codepage
/L
/I path
/A
/C

Arguments

  • infile - the input file that contains message definitions. The input-file name can be any valid OS/2 file name, optionally preceded by a drive letter and a path.
  • outfile field specifies the output file created by MKMSGF. The output-file name can be any valid OS/2 file name, optionally preceded by a drive letter and a path.

A valid DBCS range is: n10,n11,n20,n21,…,nn0,nn1

A single number is taken as a DBCS country code.

The valid OS/2 language/sublanguage ID values are:

      Language ID:
      Code    Family  Sub     Language                Principal country
      ----    ------  ---     --------                -----------------
      ARA     1       2       Arabic                  Arab Countries
      BGR     2       1       Bulgarian               Bulgaria
      CAT     3       1       Catalan                 Spain
      CHT     4       1       Traditional Chinese     R.O.C.
      CHS     4       2       Simplified Chinese      P.R.C.
      CSY     5       1       Czech                   Czechoslovakia
      DAN     6       1       Danish                  Denmark
      DEU     7       1       German                  Germany
      DES     7       2       Swiss German            Switzerland
      EEL     8       1       Greek                   Greece
      ENU     9       1       US English              United States
      ENG     9       2       UK English              United Kingdom
      ESP     10      1       Castilian Spanish       Spain
      ESM     10      2       Mexican Spanish         Mexico
      FIN     11      1       Finnish                 Finland
      FRA     12      1       French                  France
      FRB     12      2       Belgian French          Belgium
      FRC     12      3       Canadian French         Canada
      FRS     12      4       Swiss French            Switzerland
      HEB     13      1       Hebrew                  Israel
      HUN     14      1       Hungarian               Hungary
      ISL     15      1       Icelandic               Iceland
      ITA     16      1       Italian                 Italy
      ITS     16      2       Swiss Italian           Switzerland
      JPN     17      1       Japanese                Japan
      KOR     18      1       Korean                  Korea
      NLD     19      1       Dutch                   Netherlands
      NLB     19      2       Belgian Dutch           Belgium
      NOR     20      1       Norwegian - Bokmal      Norway
      NON     20      2       Norwegian - Nynorsk     Norway
      PLK     21      1       Polish                  Poland
      PTB     22      1       Brazilian Portugues     Brazil
      PTG     22      2       Portuguese              Portugal
      RMS     23      1       Rhaeto-Romanic          Switzerland
      ROM     24      1       Romanian                Romania
      RUS     25      1       Russian                 Russian Federation
      SHL     26      1       Croato-Serbian (Lat     Yugoslavia
      SHC     26      2       Serbo-Croatian (Cyr     Yugoslavia
      SKY     27      1       Slovakian               Czechoslovakia
      SQI     28      1       Albanian                Albania
      SVE     29      1       Swedish                 Sweden
      THA     30      1       Thai                    Thailand
      TRK     31      1       Turkish                 Turkey
      URD     32      1       Urdu                    Pakistan
      BAH     33      1       Bahasa                  Indonesia
      SLO     34      1       Slovene                 Slovenia

For a complete list of code pages and country codes, see the code page table under COUNTRYCODE in the online book Control Program Programming Guide and Reference.

Output File

The output file contains the indexed message file that DosGetMessage will use. The output-file name can be any valid OS/2 file name, optionally preceded by a drive letter and a path. The output file cannot have the same name as the input file.

To differentiate between the two files, the following convention is recommended, using the same file name.

  The infile file should have a .TXT extension.
  The outfile file can have a .MSG or .INC extension.

Help-message file names begin with the component identifier, followed by H.MSG. For example, the help file associated with the component identifier DOS would be DOSH.MSG.

Options

Text-based messages in different code pages can be created using MKMSGF to display errors, help information, prompt, or provide general information to the application user.

MKMSGF uses the following parameter formats to build message files:

MKMSGF infile outfile /Pcodepage 
MKMSGF infile outfile /Ddbcsrange or country id 
MKMSGF infile outfile /LlangID,VerId 
MKMSGF infile outfile /V 
MKMSGF infile outfile /? 
MKMSGF @controlfile 
  Infile is the ASCII-text source file.
  Outfile is the binary output message file or MASM include file.
  @controlfile is the message definition file.

Options Summary

Type 	Meaning
/P 	Code-page ID for the input message file.
/D 	DbcsRange or country ID for the input message file.
/L 	Language family ID (one word) and language version ID (one word).
/V 	Verbose display of message file control variables as the message file is being created.
/? 	Help display of command syntax for MKMSGF.
/A    Produce MASM include file using INC file as include file for message constants
/C    Produce MASM include file using H file as include file for message constants
/I    Include paths

Note: Any combination of /P, /D, /L, and /V switches can be used for either the command line or @controlfile execution method.

The / switch prefix and the - prefix can be used interchangeably when defining switches to MKMSGF.

/Verbose Option Output Example

Following is a sample of MKMSGF output, using the Verbose option (/V). This output was produced using the following command:

mkmsgf myapp.txt myapp.msg /v

strIn     = myapp.txt
strOut    = myapp.msg
StrIncDir = (null)
CodePages = 437
Language family id = 0 and sub id = 0
Language family id and sub id = unspecified
flags     = none
CP_type   = SBCS
"myapp.txt": length = 382 bytes.
29 messages scanned.  Writing output file...
Size of table entry: word

/P Option

The Code-page option (/P) specifies the code-page ID for that input message file.

For a complete list of code pages, see the code page table under COUNTRYCODE in the online book Control Program Programming Reference.

Up to 16 /P combinations can be saved with the message file.

/P cannot be used to identify DBCS data.

/D Option

The DBCS option (/D) specifies the DBCS Range or country ID for that input message file.

A valid DBCS country ID will cause the initialization of valid DBCS ranges to be set up for this file.

See DBCS Code Pages and Country Codes for valid DBCS country codes. /L Option

The Language option (/L) specifies the language family ID (one word) and language version ID (one word).

Valid combination of language family and language version will be set for this file.

A valid language family with invalid or undefined language version id will cause a default value of 1 to be set for language version.

/E

Produce fake extended header. This tacks on what I call a fake extended header at the end of the file and updates the header offset.

Control File

The control file (@controlfile) is used to create multiple-code-page message files. The at sign (@) is not part of the file name, but rather, a delimiter required before a control-file name.

The control file has the following format:

Example:

root.in root. Out /Pcodepage /Ddbcsrang/ctryid /LlangID,VerId
sub.001 sub1.out /Pcodepage /Ddbcsrang/ctryid /LlangID,VerId
                 .
                 .
sub.00n subn.out /Pcodepage /Ddbcsrang/ctryid /LlangID,VerId

The help option (/?) is invalid due to the purpose of the definition file.

Note: Any combination of /P /D /L and /V switches can be used for either the command line or msg_definition_file execution method. Input Message File Example

Notes