VBLM will not extract any string that matches patterns on the Like these string patterns SX option list.
With the exception of case-sensitivity and empty square brackets ([]), the pattern matching process is identical to that performed by VB's Like operator, wildcards and all. To refresh your memory:
|
Pattern Char(s) |
Matches |
|
? |
Any single char |
|
* |
Zero or more chars |
|
# |
Any single digit (0-9) |
|
[charlist] |
Any single char in charlist |
|
[!charlist] |
Any single char not in charlist |
By default, the pattern matching process is not case-sensitive: if you put "Foo" on the list, VBLM won't extract "FOO", "foo", etc. However, a leading "+" activates case-sensitive matching on a pattern-by-pattern basis. Thus if you put "+Foo" on the list, VBLM will extract "FOO", "foo", etc.
Empty square brackets are an alias for the space character (new as of V2.1, this alias is necessary because VBLM's parsing algorithm for pseudo-listboxes treats spaces as token delimiters).
The pattern matching option is unique among the SX options in that it is the only one that lets you exclude strings by content rather than context (all others exclude strings based on their location in a file or line of code, not what's in the string).
How to use it? Well, VBLM gives you a clue by including "?\:*" on the default (inactive) list. If you activate the list, VBLM won't extract any absolute file or directory specifications, eg "c:\data\text\file.dat".
Nor do you need to use wildcard characters: If VBLM extracted "Foo" from your VB project and you don't want it to, just put "Foo" on the list.
If you do use wildcards, be alert to the fact that VBLM may exclude strings that should in fact be translated. For example, if you put "SELECT*" on the list to exclude SQL queries, VBLM isn't going to extract the form caption "Select any item on the list below" either. To find out exactly which strings your patterns are excluding, load the Extraction Log into a text editor and search for (pattern).
See Also