Changing the "Based on" and "Typical File Name:" fields during migration or the Convert Project procedure

Question

During migration from Pt7.5 to Pt8, or in Convert Project, is there any way that I can change the “Based on:” field on the General tab of Project Properties and Settings, and the “Typical File Name:” field on the Advanced tab?

Background:
I recently migrated our front translation project (Mpur) and two back translation projects (English, Indonesian) from Pt7.5 to Pt8. I had hoped that I could change the project short names of two of them to more informative names, but I could not. I then found that I could use Convert Project in the Tools > Advanced menu to create new projects with new short names, but the converted back translation project was still based on the original front translation project, not the converted one; and the Typical File Names (which include the short names) were unchangeable. (In Pt7.5, I could change Type of Project and Based on.)

I wondered if deleting the front translation project in Pt8 would force the back translation projects to ask me for another project to be based on, but that did not happen. One Delete Project option said that it would also delete the back translation projects based on the front translation; another deleted the front translation, but left the back translation projects with nothing to be Based on, and no way to change that.

So what can I do?

Our front translation is named “Draft”, a very uninformative name that does not include the language name, nor does the project include just first or intermediate drafts, but final products as well. Our English back translation is named “BkTrn”, which again doesn’t include the language name nor which language (English or Indonesian) the text was back-translated into. I thought the migration would be a good time to take care of these things, but ran into the problems described above.

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Answer 1

Paratext 7.6.54.126 and later should automatically rename the Typical File Name setting to use the new short name of the project during a Convert Project.

In any non-alpha version of Paratext 8.0 (8.0.100.1 or later), you should be able to edit the Type and Based On fields for any project that isn’t directly registered (which includes all Back Translations).

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Comments

Before migration to 8.0.100.24, the highest version of Paratext I ever used was 7.5.100.87, which does not have Convert Project. Convert Project in Pt8 definitely did not automatically rename the Typical File Name to use the new short name (is this a bug in Pt8?), but if 7.6.54.126 will do it, perhaps what I need to do is (1) upgrade my Pt7.5 to 7.6.54.126 or later, (2) convert my projects to set the new short names, (3) (see next paragraph), (4) check that the Typical File Names have been automatically adjusted, and then (5) migrate the new projects into Pt8.

8.0.100.24 is definitely not allowing me to change the Type of Project (which I don’t need to change) and Based On fields–but I can change them in Pt7.5. So if 7.6.54.126 will also allow me to change them, then to the above procedure I could add: (3) change the Based On fields of the back translations to the new, converted standard translation. (If 7.6.54.126 does not allow me to change them, then I’m still stuck.)

I’ll give it a try and report back. Thanks for suggesting the use of 7.6.54.126.

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If you don’t want to install PT 7.6.54.126, here is another way to accomplish what you want:

1. Delete the back translation projects that have already been migrated in PT8.
2. Open the back translation projects in PT7.5 and change the Type of Project to Standard Translation under Project Properties and Settings.
3. Select Disable ALL Internet use under Tools > Options in PT8 and restart the program.
4. Migrate the back translations from PT7.5 to PT8. (Since all Internet use is disabled in PT8, they will not be registered although they are configured as Standard Translations.)
5. Use the Convert Project tool in PT8 to change the short names of the back translations as wanted.
6. Under Project Properties and Settings for the converted back translations, select Back Translation under Type of Project and the front translation under Based on.
7. Go back to Tools > Options in PT8, select Allow normal Internet use, and restart the program.

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Thanks, anon716631. That allowed me to set the front translation that the back translations are based on, but it still didn’t automatically update the Typical File Name using the new short name, and I am blocked from changing it manually.

I still want to try using Pt 7.6.54.126, but was not allowed access to the Pt 7.6 beta web page, so I’ve written UBS asking about that. Pt8 really should automatically change the Typical File Name when doing Convert Project to a new short name, as anon291708 has said. Could the developers fix this?

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anon492507:

it still didn’t automatically update the Typical File Name using the new short name

Looking at the code, I see a potential problem with the conversion of the Typical File Name. Do you use an extension other than .SFM for your project USFM files (case-insensitive)?

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No, I do not, just .SFM.

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Well, I’m out of ideas - it should be working.

Please use Help > Report a Problem to report this issue so we can look into why your file names are not being converted. Please include the name of the project(s) with the problem.

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So what should one do if the extension of the files in PT7.x is “.txt”?

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I would also be very interested in knowing if there is a way to change the file extensions. In the Philippines we traditionally used .scp as the extension for Paratext files, and there are many projects that we have migrated to Paratext 8 without being able to change that extension to .sfm.

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Mark+P:

So what should one do if the extension of the files in PT7.x is “.txt”?

The conversion will still work and your project should be fine, it will just not update the name of the files.

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Yes, I have found that to be the case already. Hence my earlier question. But I suppose what I am really asking is, “If we’re not using the standard .SFM extension, is there any way at all to (i) keep project history AND (ii) rename the files?” If not, then we will be perpetually stuck with the old/bad* filenames. Or a new project with no history. *Our ISO language code was changed last year, and it would be nice (but not essential) to start in PT8 with updated filenames.

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Mark+P:

is there any way at all to (i) keep project history AND (ii) rename the files?

No, there is not, sorry. There is an existing feature request for it, but so far, it has been relatively low-priority.

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How do you change extensions? Do you just rename the book names to a new extension and then update the .ssf file? Is there still an .ssf file in PT8? If so, where is it?

Can you not rename the extension to .sfm, convert to rename the files, and then change the extension back to whatever you want?

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mnjames:

Is there still an .ssf file in PT8? If so, where is it?

The .SSF file is now the Settings.xml file inside the project directory.

mnjames:

Can you not rename the extension to .sfm, convert to rename the files, and then change the extension back to whatever you want?

Even if you change the settings to make Paratext recognize the new names, changing the file names in any way will disconnect them from the rest of the project history. Meaning you would lose all of this history for your scripture text. Convert project wouldn’t even recognize the files in the history either, so it wouldn’t work to go that route.

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What about if you renamed the files using the hg rename a b command? Then wouldn’t the history be connected to the new names?

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Admittedly I’ve never tried it, but, knowing the Paratext code and how it works, I expect that it would still not recognize the files in the revision history and, thus, would not show the files as changes in the Project History dialog.

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Answer 2

Where is “Help > Report a Problem”? I don’t see a link in this site anywhere.

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Comments

Inside of Paratext 8

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Ok, thanks. Just sent a problem report.

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Just for the record, in case anyone else looks up this topic, the Convert Project tool did not rename the Typical File Names automatically in either Pt 7.6.54.126 or Pt 8.0 using my new short names. And the program does not allow for renaming them manually, so I am just stuck with the old ones.

I ended up following anon716631 ’s procedure above so that I could at least change the Based On field for our back translations.

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Answer 3

And I also have a complaint from a project with the file names unchanged after a conversion.

Original name was SwaWB 41MAT.SFM
(I don’t know if that is an actual space in the name)

I’d be de happy for a workaround if there are any.

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Comments

On Sep 7 Steve White wrote me that, in Paratext 8.0.100.25, changing the project short name in Convert Project would also change the file names and typical file name. He tested it, with that result. I was using 8.0.100.24 at the time. I’ve since received the upgrade, but haven’t taken the time to try it myself yet.

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