Usage of the memoQ web service API by LSP
– a case study
Outline
 About think global
 What is a WS-API?
 Usage of WS-API through the engineering department
 Embedding memoQ into automated workflows
 Common problems and limitations
About think global
 think global is a medium size, multilingual LSP
 Customers are from different branches
 Software companies are a big and important customer group
 This leads to rather big and complex projects
•
many files
•
many languages
•
different, complex formats
•
frequent updates
About think global
 think global has different departments
 The engineering department
•
prepares content for translation
•
develops tools for preparation
•
uses mainly Java as a programming language
What is a WS-API?
 API – application programming interface
 It provides programming access to software functionality
 In memoQ: Create projects, add users, ...
 Advantage: Repetitive tasks can be implemented once but
used several times
What is a WS-API?
 A web service is a service that can be accessed through a
network
 The content is packed in XML files
 It is a standard that is supported by most programming
languages
What is a WS-API?
Web Service
Java
C++
PHP
...
Usage of WS-API Through Engineering
 Simple tasks used by the engineering department:
•
Creation of resources (e.g. TMs for multilingual projects)
•
Cloning of resources with slightly different settings
•
Multi-step tasks (e.g. clearing TMs)
•
Import of huge projects with different filters
•
Export to different formats
•
Backup of projects / resources
•
Control tasks (resource settings, user groups, ...)
Embedding memoQ
 Workflow example: machine translation
 Projects are prepared in memoQ
 Bilingual export + conversion to machine friendly format
 Machine translation
 Conversion + import
Embedding memoQ
 Analysis of memoQ projects
 advantage: all needed analysis are done at once
 memoQ client is still available
 Assign translators to documents
 very time consuming
 has to be done twice (in the project management
system and in memoQ)
Embedding memoQ
Problems and Limitations
 API complexity and design
 The API is complex; understanding it is time consuming
 The design is not always consistent
Problems and Limitations
 API functions sometimes differ from GUI functions
 TM settings are not used in analysis
 Some project settings cannot be read
 Setting of import / export path is not possible
 ...
Problems and Limitations
 Updates
 Good news!
 API is updated automatically with memoQ server
 Very few changes in API functions
 Only MBDs have been replaced with MQXLZ recently
Problems and Limitations
 Bugs
 There are not many bugs, but ...
 WS-API has few users, bugs are not reported and
resolved as fast as ‘normal’ memoQ bugs
 Installation of older versions is not possible
 When problems occur, finding workarounds is difficult
 Combination with missing features can lead to severe
problems
Problems and Limitations
 Example: Export bug
 Bug description: Some documents cannot be exported
 Change to older version impossible
 No workaround via API possible
 Missing functionality setExportPath()
 => ‘Export to stored path’ via GUI is not possible
 Every document has to be exported manually to the
correct subfolder
Conclusion
 The usage through the engineering department saves time
and costs (and can be fun!)
 It avoids human mistakes and raises quality
 Automated usage through third parties (like project
managers) can be a huge benefit, but has to be introduced
with care
 Carefully define the functionality you want to implement
 Think about performance
Thank you!