Description Translation Options

Q) Should the Description Translation routines be available in MicroSurvey CAD 2008. It is in the help menu, but I can not find it on any of any of the menus.

A) Sorry - the help was not updated in time for the release of the product, for this topic.

The ability is still in the program, and in fact is actually easier to use now, compared to previous versions.

Instead of having a menu item to list and another to edit the table, the table is now a simple ASCII file on your hard drive.

The new description translation file is called DESCTRANS.CSV and is found in the following folder:

Windows XP/2000: 

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\MicroSurvey\MSCAD\2008\

Windows Vista/7:

C:\ProgramData\MicroSurvey\MSCAD\2008\

The format for the file is:

id, description

with each entry on it's own line.

This way you can edit this file in Excel or Wordpad, and then copy it easily to any machine.

MicroSurvey CAD 2008 will automatically load this file when the program is started. If you turn the system toggle on to use them, they should work automatically for you.

If the file is missing when MicroSurvey CAD is started, then you will get an error message on the command line:

Error opening Description Translation file?

The default description translation file (desctrans.csv) is shipped with the program, and it needs to be installed in the 'All Users' application directory.

There is another command available that will read a different (temporary) description translation file.‚  It is READ_DESC_TRANS and can be typed it at the command line in MicroSurvey CAD 2008.  It brings up a dialog box that allows you to select another temporary CSV file (as long as it is configured correctly).  This command clears the table in memory and reloads it with the new list.  Restarting MicroSurvey CAD 2008 will automatically reload the original desctrans.csv file again.