TBX-Min – Information
TBX-Min is a dialect of TBX designed for simple and straightforward storage of bilingual or monolingual glossaries. The primary use case for TBX-Min is to transmit a glossary to a translator, but TBX-Min can also be used by translators to submit glossaries they have created. It was designed to be easily converted to and from its cousin TBX-Basic, as well as other well known glossary storage formats such as Universal Terminology eXchange (UTX)*. Although its current structure more accurately reflects UTX elements, TBX-Basic elements may be proposed in the future. For more specific information on TBX-Min (including structure, format, etc.), download the Introduction to TBX-Min.
Also, a detailed description can be read in this paper written for TKE 2014.
Please note that TBX-Min has evolved since the paper was written. Those changes are reflected in this document as “Alternative TBX-Min”.
*A newer version of the UTX converter will be coming soon. The old converter has been taken offline in the meantime due to incompatibilities with the latest versions of TBX-Min and UTX.
TBX-Min Data Categories
The header of a TBX-Min file contains the following:
- a unique ID to identify the document
- the creator name
- prose description of the term base
- the directionality (monodirectional or bidirectional)
- the source and target languages (only two languages may be used)
- the termbase license
- the date that the termbase was created (in ISO 8601 format)
The body contains the usual nested entry, langSet and termEntry(terminological entry).
The termEntry element contains:
- a subject field
- one or more langSet elements
The langSet element contains one or more tig elements and the attribute “xml:lang”
The tig (term information group) element contains the following:
- the term text (the only required field)
- a note group
- the part of speech
- the name of the applicable customer
- the term status
The noteGrp element:
- noteKey (optional): A note Key naming the type of note (“comment”, “author name”, etc.)
- noteValue (mandatory): The actual content of the note
Note that most of the elements and categories reflect those found in UTX more than TBX-Basic. However, in the future, TBX-Basic categories and elements may be proposed.
This sample pack includes three valid TBX-Min files and an invalid file for testing the RNG and XSD schemas (See the Validation portion of the Tools section).
Tools:
TBX-Min Viewer
TBX-Min Viewer/Editor is a new application intended to allow for quick and user friendly viewing and editing of the contents of a TBX-Min file within a web browser. The viewer/editor can be found at viewer.tbxinfo.net/.
TBX-Min Analyzer
TBX-Min Analyzer is a simple app that scans TBX-Min files and confirms basic formatting information, the number of entries present, which subject fields are present, and what the source/target language is. The user must simply upload the file from their computer and a text file will be output with the results of the scan. Visit this page to use the app.
Validation
Tools to validate your TBX-Min file using either the RNG or XSD schemas are available online. You may also download the schemas for use in your own applications.
Support TBX-Min Import/Export Functions
This import/export guide details a simple pseudo-code construct for creating your own import/export function extension.