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How To: Convert Bibles for Accordance


Fabian

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In the last few weeks I worked with Michael Schierl who created the BibleMultiConverter.

 

The documentary lacks a little bit, but I requested a better Help File with images and maybe a video.

 

 

BibleMultiConverter

Converter written in Java to convert between different Bible program formats

Copyright © 2007-2018 Michael Schierl Licensed unter MIT License; for details, see the LICENSE file.

Usage

If you clone from Git or download a source zip, you will need a Java JDK 8 or above (tested up to 11), and Apache Maven 3.5 or above, to build. Just run "mvn package" and you will find a suitable distribution .zip file in the TARGET folder. Note that to build all modules (including SWORD and All-In-One), you will need to have built JSword first and installed it to your local maven repository. Alternatively, skip these modules by adding -pl !biblemulticonverter-sword,!biblemulticonverter-allinone to your Maven command line.

If you download a precompiled .zip file, you will need a Java Runtime Environment 8 or above, available from java.com. Just run

java -jar BibleMultiConverter.jar


on the command line for usage information. Each module has its own help, which can be shown by using the "help" module.

 

 

Accordance export

Accordance export also is quite complex, but this time not because of the complexity of the format, but because of some quirks in Accordance and because - due to the limited features - there are several common workarounds available (which are used by people when manually creating modules as well), but which do not apply to every module. Sometimes, it makes even sense to create multiple modules of the same bible with different options and use them at the same time.

Character formats are limited to bold, italic, underlined, small caps, subscript, superscript, and 20 named colors. While it is quite common to format divine names in small caps, and words of Jesus in red (which by the way is the only color that can be switched on and off in the settings), it is unclear how to format e.g. prologs, headlines or footnotes, or whether to include them at all. Another peculiarity: When searching in the module, you can exclude text that is written in square brackets; therefore some people like to put these kinds of content into square brackets; others (who prefer "clean" display) do not.

Therefore, it is possible to configure the appearance of each of the available Bible features individually, and whether they should be exported at all. Features used in the text that are not configured (except the aforementioned divine names and words of Jesus) cause a warning. Each feature can be configured independently how it should appear if it occurs in a chapter prolog. Available appearance options include the mentioned character formats, adding newlines or paragraphs before/after the items, and putting the item in round, square or curly brackets.

As character set, MacRoman or UTF-8 can be used; while MacRoman is supported better by older Accordance versions, UTF-8 supports more characters. Line endings can be CR or LF; again CR for better compatibility, LF for interoperability with other editors.

For all the options, see the help text of the module.

Another point to keep in mind are versification schemas.

When importing a Bible in accordance, there are basically two options for the Versification schema:

  • When choosing "Standard KJV", you are quite free what verse numbers to include. As long as they basically fall inside the bounds of the KJV (about 10 more verses are permitted per book), verse numbers can be omitted and the number of actual verses in a book does not matter (as long as there is at least one). As a disadvantage, viewing this Bible in parallel with other (official) Bibles will likely not match your expectations.

  • The other option is to choose to take the versification scheme of any other Bible you own. In that case, the verse numbers (and order and gaps) have to match the verse numbers of that Bible exactly. If verses at the beginning or in the middle are missing, wrong verse numbers are displayed next to the verses (even when the Bible is shown alone), and if verses at the end are missing or too many, only the parallel view is impacted. But, on the other hand, parallel display with other Bibles will most likely work as you would expect.

To cover these two variants, there are several options in the exporter.

  • By default, reordered verses will be sorted (and the format for the real verse number can be given by the VN= option, VN=BRACKETS+TEAL is a good option), but apart from that, verses will stay as they were in the import file. This option is often suitable for "Standard KJV" versification.

  • When specifying verseschema=restrictkjv, verses that lie outside the KJV versification will be joined, again using the VN= option for the real verse numbers.

  • When specifying verseschame=fillone, verses that are missing and lie before an existing verse (starting with verse 1) will be filled with -. This is the poor man's option when using an existing versification scheme, in the hope that this scheme does not have any reorderings or gaps, and will not help for parallel view.

  • When specifying verseschema=fillzero, some Psalms (in particular 3-9, 11-32, 34-42, 44-70, 72-90, 92, 98, 100-103, 108-110, 120-134, 138-145) will be filled starting with verse 0. This helps for versification schemes that follow KJV and put the psalm title into verse 0, but still only a workaround.

  • The best option when using custom versifications is to export a reference list from Accordance (or more if you are unsure which versification to use), import them into BibleMultiConverter and then specify the versification asverseschema=<name>@<dbname>. In that case, the versification schema is followed exactly, omissions are moved to the previous verse (if present) and reorderings are followed at a best effort basis. In addition, missing verses at the end of the book will also be filled with -, and extra books will be merged with the previous book.

The usual workflow when using custom versifications is as follow

  1. Identify which versification formats you may want to use (or export all if you are unsure and have the time/patience to do so).

  2. Export a versification list from Accordance. To do so, open the corresponding Bible, choose Display->Set Text Pane Display->Show As->References only as well as Display->Set Text Pane Display->Advanced->Use English Book Names. Then, select all verses (Edit->Select All) and save them using File->Save Text Selection->Plain Text....

  3. Import the versifications into BibleMultiConverter. Therefore, a database file with extension .bmcv(BibleMultiConverter Versification) is created. The command to do so is:

    java -jar BibleMultiConverter.jar Versification <file>.bmcv import AccordanceReferenceList <file>.txt <NAME>

    Repeat this for every versification you want to import, into the same database file, but using different names.

  4. Run VersificationDetector to decide which module to use. Use the options -title and -ignoreheadlines for best results.

  5. Do the actual conversion, using the verseschema= option as mentioned above.

 

It creates Bibles ready for import and it gives you an overview

post-32723-0-49226900-1571564802_thumb.png

Greetings

Fabian

 

 

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Fabian, this is really amazing stuff. Going from USFM into Accordance is a great step.

 

The fact this is MIT license is also great! I'll see about getting it into translationCore.

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  • 1 year later...
On 10/20/2019 at 11:29 PM, dandennison said:

The fact this is MIT license is also great! I'll see about getting it into translationCore.

It would be great if this app also support USX 3.x with all the new abilities, plus a scroll sync with Accordance. 

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Leave it to Paratext to make another format incompatible with everything else.

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  • 3 months later...

Is it possible to use user-made modules in the Android version? Are the Accordance module files platform-independent?

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1 hour ago, Daniel L said:

Is it possible to use user-made modules in the Android version? Are the Accordance module files platform-independent?

Currently there is no way to get user modules on Android. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have wrote my own manual:

Put the Bible txt in the same folder as the BMC is. I use the AllInOneEdition. The codes are for Accordance 12.3+. For older Accordance please ask me direct per PM.

 

  • Code I use on Mac: The blue depends on your preferences. Maybe on the OS version too. For example the "" aren't needed before Apple has switched to ZSH-Shell.
  • I simply do the changes in the Word document and then copy paste it to the Terminal or Shell, or whatever it is called by you
  • RED = is to adapt by every Bible
  • BLUE = it depends (your preferences, your OS, your Accordance version, your ...)
  • GREEN = always good
  • BIBLENAME = the name you gave by the export of the verse mapping from Accordance. The ones that are in the .bmcv file.
  • BIBLE_NAME = the actual Bible you handle with
  • The output has a .txt.txt if you have the .txt in the output name. I like this to distinguish from the input Bible. I delete it later.
  • No space is to use in the BIBLE_NAME. (I normally do only ONE character as BIBLE_NAME and change the name of the Bible after the conversion. 
  • As an advice for Accordance users. I do the verse mapping in the name. For example "My Bible.TLAB.txt". So I know later always which verse mapping this Bible has.

Main Codes for Accordance on MAC

The four main codes I use. I took it here for fast actions with the BMC. All explanations are under their own chapters. I only change it to adapt it for the different Bibles. 

Maybe it works better for you if you open multiple sessions of the Terminal.

Remove ref. from .bmcv

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Versification Accordance.bmcv remove BIBLENAME

 Import ref. to .bmcv

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Versification Accordance.bmcv import AccordanceReferenceList BIBLENAME.txt BIBLENAME

 VersificationDetector

java -Dversificationdetector.verboseschemes=all -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt VersificationDetector Accordance.bmcv -title -ignoreheadlines -limitBooks | tr ',' ';'

 VersificationCountsDetector

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt VersificationCountsDetector Accordance.bmcv -title -ignoreheadlines -limitBooks | tr ',' ';'

 Export (all codes included)

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt verseschema=BIBLENAME@Accordance.bmcv lineending=cr encoding=MacRoman,UTF-8 verseschemashift=++50FN=SUP#SUP+BRACKETS VN=CERULEAN+BRACKETS XREF=FOREST PL:XREF=FOREST PL=PARA_END+BRACKETS+ORANGE+NOBREAK H"*"=PARA_START+BR_END+GREEN+BRACKETS PL:H"*"=BR_START+BR_END+GREEN+BRACKETS PL:FN=SUP#SUP verseref=full

Export (to Accordance for full verse references) if no verse mapping changes has to be do. For example Gen 1:1 bla bla 2 bla bla, goes to Gen 1:1 bla bla Gen 1:2 bla bla. This helps later to find a verse ref in the txt much easier.

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt lineending=cr encoding=MacRoman,UTF-8 verseref=full

 

 

Main Codes for Accordance for Windows

The four main codes I use. I took it here for fast actions with the BMC. All explanations are under their own chapters. I only change it to adapt it for the different Bibles. 

Maybe it works better for you if you open multiple sessions of the Terminal.

  • For Windows only: I guess the lineending=cr encoding=MacRoman,UTF-8 you can delete. 
  • Maybe the "" aren't needed too.

 Remove ref. from .bmcv

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Versification Accordance.bmcv remove BIBLENAME

 Import ref. to .bmcv

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Versification Accordance.bmcv import AccordanceReferenceList BIBLENAME.txt BIBLENAME

 VersificationDetector

java -Dversificationdetector.verboseschemes=all -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt VersificationDetector Accordance.bmcv -title -ignoreheadlines -limitBooks | tr ',' ';'

 VersificationCountsDetector

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt VersificationCountsDetector Accordance.bmcv -title -ignoreheadlines -limitBooks | tr ',' ';'

 Export (all codes included) as a repository

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt verseschema=BIBLENAME@Accordance.bmcv lineending=cr encoding=MacRoman,UTF-8 verseschemashift=++50FN=SUP#SUP+BRACKETS VN=CERULEAN+BRACKETS XREF=FOREST PL:XREF=FOREST PL=PARA_END+BRACKETS+ORANGE+NOBREAK H"*"=PARA_START+BR_END+GREEN+BRACKETS PL:H"*"=BR_START+BR_END+GREEN+BRACKETS PL:FN=SUP#SUP verseref=full

 Export (to Accordance for full verse references). For example Gen 1:1 bla bla 2 bla bla, goes to Gen 1:1 bla bla Gen 1:2 bla bla. This helps later to find a verse ref in the txt much easier.

java -jar BibleMultiConverter-AllInOneEdition.jar Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt Accordance BIBLE_NAME.txt lineending=cr encoding=MacRoman,UTF-8 verseref=full

 

Edited by Fabian
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As a side Note July 21:

 

The BMC is by me mostly used for European Bibles and the ones with Apocrypha if it is in the Accordance format. That means all non KJV verse mapping based Bibles. For example Bibles with Rev 12:18, 3John 15, Joel 4 and so on. Or to complete the verse mappings if you have gaps.

Or to convert Bibles from a different format.

 

If your Bible is based on the KJV verse mappings then you can control it. But import it as KJV (default/standard). Hint there is a bug in Accordance which I reported, but I have no clue when it is fixed. For example the ESV is based on the KJV verse mappings but it has less verses. Now the default or standard import doesn't handle it correct until the bug is fixed. Which I hope the developers find soon time to fix it. Until then you have to choose the correct verse mappings. That means for ESV verse mapping you have to use the ESV. 

 

If someone want my manual I can give it to you. Send me a PM.

Same for the .bmcv file. 

 

If you have a question which you think it is unique and it is not properly on the tread here you can send me a PM too.

 

I wish you a successful import of the Bible.

Edited by Fabian
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