Automated translation of screen images for software documentation

A system for automating translation of screen images, the system comprising:

• a memory having computer readable instructions;
• and
• a processor for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions including:
• receiving a description of a display screen generated by a software program executed in a first mode to interact with a user in first language, the description in a serialized format that includes screen capture parameters and an offset location in a first dictionary corresponding to a screen element in the display screen, the first dictionary including screen elements utilized by the software program when executing in the first mode to generate the display screen;
• identifying a target language;
• accessing a second dictionary of screen elements utilized by a deserialization program in the target language, wherein the screen element is located at the offset location in the second dictionary;
• combining the description of the display screen with the second dictionary;
• and
• recreating the display screen in the target language based on the combining,
• wherein the first dictionary is a language bundle in the first language, the second dictionary is a language bundle in the target language, and the offset location is a key into the language bundle in the first language and the language bundle in the target language, and
• wherein the software program is compiled using a pre-compiler that makes an identifier of the language bundle and key available to display instructions in the software program.

A computer program product for automating translation of screen images, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by processing circuitry to cause the processing circuitry to perform:

• receiving a description of a display screen generated by a software program executed in a first mode to interact with a user in first language, the description in a serialized format that includes screen capture parameters and an offset location in a first dictionary corresponding to a screen element in the display screen, the first dictionary including screen elements utilized by the software program when executing in the first mode to generate the display screen;
• identifying a target language;
• accessing a second dictionary of screen elements utilized by a deserialization program in the target language, wherein the screen element is located at the offset location in the second dictionary;
• combining the description of the display screen with the second dictionary;
• and
• recreating the display screen in the target language based on the combining,
• wherein the first dictionary is a language bundle in the first language, the second dictionary is a language bundle in the target language, and the offset location is a key into the language bundle in the first language and the language bundle in the target language, and
• wherein the software program is compiled using a pre-compiler that makes an identifier of the language bundle and key available to display instructions in the software program.