Flare/Lingo doesn't work for long Russian file

[scottpfen]

We are translating HTML Help for one of our programs into Russian, using Lingo. (The Russian translator is using the Lingo program, to move everything into Flare/HTML.)

One large file has presented problems. In English, this file is 784 kb; in Russian however, it balloons to 1800 kb. One of our engineers generates this file as an "ATR" extension file, then converts it into HTML. We in turn convert it into an XHTML or Flare-ready file and replace the formatting and cross-referencing (the x-refs goes to a variety of pdf files such as the user manual and a tutorial). The file contains all of the parameters of the program, and any new parameters.

The translator cannot get the file into Lingo because of its size. Unfortunately, I do not have Lingo. The English version file works, albeit it can be slow to open--it tends to hang. Also, I should mention that this file was converted from WinHelp to HTML Help along with all of our other documents, and that's why we include it to this day.

Here's the problem: although the shorter topics produced in Lingo appear in Russian on my machine with all the appropriate language settings, this big file appears only in gibberish, whether opened directly in IE or after being included in the project and generated in the chm. Its very size prohibits it from being translated with Lingo.

Nonetheless, when I open up the Russian version with a freeware HTML editor after setting Windows for Russian, the Russian appears. But it doesn't appear in the browser or in the chm, even when my machine and Flare 4 are set for Russian.

Also, the Russian does appears in the translator's IE browser, but not in mine. He sent me a screenshot that shows this.

The developer has suggested that the translator copy and paste the Russian directly into his originating file, bypassing Lingo altogether, in order to get the Russian to appear in the chm.

My questions are: could this copy-and-paste method work, that is, pasting the Russian into the original (ATR) file and then in turn generating the HTML, and then the Flare/HTML file? (One drawback would be that this is very time-consuming--the translator's estimate is three weeks.)

Also, what kind of limits does Lingo have as to file sizes?

Finally, as to background information, the translator tells me that his character settings are Unicode UTF-8, and that he is using a freeware HTML editor called NvuPortable.

Thanks

[RamonS]

Maybe it is browser specific? You wrote that the large file appears in CHM and IE as gibberish. Does it work in a web browser? CHM uses the IE engine and it may be a quick test to see if it is browser specific. Won't do a thing for the Lingo issue though.