Tittut 1.1.010

Tittut is a tool (or rather a set of tools) used for fast lookups of strings in tab-delimited textfiles (a.k.a. glossaries). For more information on how to use it, see the Tittut help. Any user with some experience of using computers should understand how to work with this program. Creating the glossaries used are somwhat more complicated, but can be accomplished with a small effort (see below).

This is what the interface looks like after you have made a lookup. The tool is a TSR (Terminate-Stay-Resident) in old school terminology, meaning (in Windows terms) that the window is invisible until you invoke it. The application registers a global hotkey for this, which defaults to CTRL+SPACE. In other words, you wont see anything of the application once you start it. You have to activate it with the global hotkey.

Once activated, Tittut will do a lookup using the string currently on the Windows Clipboard. (Note how conveniently close the SPACE and C keys are located on your keyboard.) The glossaries used for searching are defined in a glossary set (.upp file). These are nothing more than simple text files with a list of glossaries.

There are three different ways of searching in the glossaries (yes, the radio buttons in the main interface):

• At beginning. Using this option, the program matches looks in the left-most column (the one with the source strings) and matches if the string starts the same way as what you are searching for.
• Anywhere. This is pretty much the same options as Search in Windows Explorer. You can search for target translations using this option.
• Indexed. The preferred way to search large files. Tittut can create index files based on the glossaries, allowing for fast searches. You can also do fuzzy matching (ignore word ordering) with indexes. However, this kind of search is limited to the left-most column.

Before you can leverage on all of this functionality, you have to do some conversions of your current databases or what information you currently have access to. Tittut eats pretty much anything that 1) is ANSI text, 2) has tab-delimited columns, and 3) has the source term in the first column and the target column in the second column.

If your data is in another format, you need to convert the files to the Tittut format. Use the steps below to create a fully functional glossary set from databases in Microsoft® Localisation Studio:

1. Export your glossary database to a .csv file, using the default options.
2. Run the lsg2txt tool to convert the file to a tab-delimited text file.
3. Sort the file using the Windows command sort. Specify the "C" locale, and make room for long strings with the /REC switch
4. Remove all duplicates and empty strings using luniq.

See below for a sample command line with these commands. Repeat the above for all glossaries you are interested in. When you have prepared the files for Tittut, it's time to create the glossary sets:

1. Start Tittut.exe and create a new, empty set.
2. Add the glossary (or glossaries) using Tools->Edit Set.
3. Create an index for each of the files using Tools->Create Index.
4. Save your glossary set using File->Save.

When you have created a glossary set with some dictionaries, you're set to go. Copy text from any application, press CTRL+SPACE, and watch in amazement how a gazillion of words are scanned in a matter of milliseconds. For more info on Tittut, see the Tittut help.

Sample command line

You can use the following sample when working with (Swedish) glossaries exported from LocStudio. When preparing a large number of files, turn this into a batch file (delete the target file, otherwise it won't rename).

lsg2txt swe-swe-lsg-CountryRegion.csv -o tmptxt -l Swedish
sort tmptxt /L "C" /O tmptxts /REC 65000
luniq tmptxts
ren tmptxts swe-swe-lsg-CountryRegion.txt

Download

By clicking the following link, you agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. You may use Tittut freely for your own, personal, translation needs. You may distribute Tittut to any person, in any country, but you may not use or distribute Tittut in any organization that resembles a major translation agency, software publishing house, and so on. This means that if you are planning to distribute Tittut to localisers you employ, translators working for you or to your testing department, you have to think again.
2. This is freeware. You should be aware that the author cannot be held responsible for any damages arising from the use of this program. You cannot expect to get any support from the author.

Download Tittut.zip (version 1.1.010, 51.6 kB zip , Win32)

Back to Downloads

Source code is available on demand. Write a nice mail to astham{@}esaro{.}se.