A batch rule creator can be useful for any language maintainer,
interested in developing filters for language problems. Language
problems such as redundancies, oxymoron, improper expressions, clichés,
etc. have extensive lists on the internet (i.e. Wikipedia) but it is
very time consuming to translate those lists into simple rules, line by
line.
I made a spreadsheet that assists in the creation of lists of rules in a
sort of batch process.
In attachment follows the speadsheet that automates the steps to create a set of rules from a list of expressions.
UPDATE - Batch Rule Automator v3.1
Changes:
- Column for suggestions. Contraction rulegroup was made with this feature.
- Easier way to customize name and creation date.
- Multiples bug fixes (3.1)
V2.0 - DEPRECATED Batch Rule Automator v2.ods (30.2 KB)
- Only requires 4 “replace all” operations to funtion, independently of the number of itens in the list.
You are welcome!
If you have any (easy) improvement suggestion or find that the spreadsheet works with other programs, please, drop a line. I want to see all languages improved, so I will try to accomodate (reasonable) requests.
An online batch creator would be useful. It could take as input (say) a tab separated file (which is easily generated from many different spreadsheets). Each line in the file is converted to a rule.
Like you, I keep source data for some types of rules in a spreadsheet. Then, I use PowerGREP (www.powergrep.com) to convert the data into LT rules. Possibly, there is an open-source program that will let you do the same. Then, you could make an (almost) fully automated batch converter that you could share with the LT community.
I would really like to see such feature on the LT rule editor. With a proper implementation, suiting the rest of the rule editor, not like my ‘fast hack’ spreadsheet.
I am very pleased to know that I am doing it like the pros. I will also have a look at PowerGREP and see if I can work with it easily. Thank you very much for the tip.
Regarding the making a ‘proper program’ out of this, it is a bit out of plans. This is intended to show and share my workflow. I made it because it was easier for me to do it this way, and if somebody else can also benefit from it, all the better.
Creating a program would require me to learn the language of the target code and them make it fit my needs. That is very time consuming. Unlike a spreadsheet that a reshape in less than 10 minutes, a program would be difficult to tweak to suit different situations/languages. And then you have user issues: being multi-platform, dependency issues, file size, etc. …
I know it is not reputable to do a spreadsheet instead of a program, but this suits my needs and I hope it helps someone else. Just that.
As I said before, if some small tweak is required, just say. If I know how to do it, I will gladly accomodate the request.