Compare Android String xml files - android

I have two string xml for two different languages, I would like to know the different between those xml files.
For example, there is one xml for English,
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="app_name">Keep Accounts</string>
<string name="insertNewOne">Insert Accounts</string>
<string name="browseRecord">Browse Records</string>
<string name="set">Setting</string>
</resources>
And another xml for other language,
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="app_name">Example</string>
<string name="insertNewOne">Example</string>
<string name="browseRecord">Example</string>
<string name="dateNoColon">Example</string>
</resources>
We can see the difference is xml for English has element string name="set", and the other has not. On the other hand, the xml file for other language has element string name="dateNoColon" but the xml for English has not.
In this case, I would like to know the English xml lacks the element string name="dateNoColon", and other xml lacks the element string name="set".

Android Studio has translations editor starting of 0.8.12 version. You can find there missing translation strings.
You can enable check for missing translations in Lint tool. There are "Missing translation" and "Extra translation" checks.
Extra translation If a string appears in a specific language translation file, but there is no corresponding string in the default locale, then this string is probably unused. (It's technically possible that your application is only intended to run in a specific locale, but it's still a good idea to provide a fallback.).
Incomplete translation If an application has more than one locale, then all the strings declared in one language should also be translated in all other languages.

Suppose if the device is set to Other language, Android will look for title in the otherlanguage.xml file in value folder. But if no such string is included in that file, Android will fall back to the default, and will load title in English from the english.xml file.
For more detail go to http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/localization.html#using-framework

I wrote a small tool for that: resdiff.
Check it out! https://github.com/danijoo/resdiff

Try sorting both files using some perl or bash script or something like that for example, using bash:
sort temp.txt -o temp.txt
and then look at the diff for example using DiffMergeit.

Use Android Lint to find both incomplete translations i.e. strings missing in a language variant and extra translations i.e. strings introduced in a language variant but missing in the default locale.
In Android Studio you can run Lint (and some other analysis tools) with Analyze -> Inspect Code.

Related

Why my android studio doesn't support typing tamil language?

I am new to android studio. I am trying to create an application with localisation(Tamil). When I paste my Tamil language into android editor the font is not appearing as it should. Here is the Screen shot of my android studio
Already surfed lot here. There is no answer for this issue. It would be great if anyone help on this.
When i tried to generate that same condition I came to know that you haven't added that string named "app" in your default locale i.e. in strings.xml and you are directly trying to add a translation for it.
When u hover to that error it states:
app is transalted here but not found in default locale.
First add(create) that string in your strings.xml file and then try to add it in your strings.xml (tamil) file.
Follow these steps:
First go to your project's res folder --> then open values folder --> then open "strings.xml" file and remove all text inside it and paste the text shown below:
<resources>
<string name="app_name">My Application</string>
<string name="tamil_app_name">ஆங்கில தட்டச்சு வழியாக நம் மொழி</string>
</resources>
Because you have to create a Tamil language string file to set your language. please do the following steps-:
1) Firstly declare all the strings in main strings.xml
2) Then create the string file according to your language choice, Example strings.xml(ta)
3) (ta) is the language code accordingly.
4) The Strings that you have in your main string file convert them into particular language which you want then paste it into the new created String file.

Android Studio error message I18n

I got an error message that says:
[I18N] Hardcoded string "Today - Sunny - 78/67", should use #string
resource.
How can this error be resolved?
The line of code is: android:text="Today - Sunny - 78/67"
i18n is an abbreviation for internationalization. Android Studio is just giving you a hint that the way you are setting the text won't allow you to easily translate it.
Instead you should put your string in a strings.xml file within the res/values folder:
<resources>
<string name="my_string">Today - Sunny - 78/67</string>
</resources>
You then reference that string on your TextView like this:
android:text="#string/my_string"
This would allow you to make another file for spanish strings, res/values-es/strings.xml that you could add a translation to:
<resources>
<string name="my_string">Hoy - Soleado - 78/67</string>
</resources>
And then that string will automatically get picked for your TextView if the user's locale language is Spanish.
It's implying that you should not explicitly write your text in your XML. You should use the /Values/Strings.xml to hold your string values.
Take a look through the folders on the left side, for values. The file is already there. You just need to add your string to it.
For the record, this doesn't normally generate an error of the "I'm gonna crash now" variety. It's usually just a warning.
you can put mouse on problems line and use android studio hot key - alt+enter. After that you can choose "Extract string resource"
Sory fo my bad english =)

How to import/export Android string resource to Excel for localization?

I use Android Studio in app development. I want to translate strings by exporting/importing the Android language resources (strings.xml) to Excel file (xlsx). What is the best way to do it?
If anyone else needed the answer,
from res -> strings -> right click-> Open Translations Editor. Select data/variable you need then copy and paste data from Translations Editor to excel . done.
Since CTRL+A not working now in the android studio.
There is one way to convert the android strings file to CSV and then translate it with the help of google translator and then again convert back to XML.
https://www.skydevelopers.net/blog/2-best-ways-to-translate-the-android-strings-file/
here is a blog in detail
Export Strings resource file to csv
Get its content translated(probably from google translate)
convert back the Translated file to Strings.xml(android string resource file)
I used http://convertcsv.com/csv-to-xml.htm this website for converting csv file to strings resource file
need to mention Custom output template to convert it to strings resource file
<string name="{f1}">{f2}</string>
put this in template section provided
website also displays the desired converted output file
As many others pointed out, pressing Ctrl+A in the Translations Editor doesn't work since Android Studio 3.2
I work for a company that outsources translations constantly, so we need to convert android strings to and from xls files.
The only solution that worked for us reliably is this fork of the older android-lang-tool. Just build with maven and run the jar.
It exports strings, string-arrays, plurals and their key-values to an xls file. It even exports the comments.
I would suggest the best tool for android app string localization is the Translations Editor that is inbuilt into Android Studio.
The reason this is a great approach is you are able to make the process both easier for translators and less prone to errors. The XML string files in Android Studio support XLIFF notations that are a standardized method to aid string localization.
By utilizing XLIFF notation in your XML string files you can do the following to help the translators:
Provide additional context for declared strings
Mark message parts that should not be translated
To use XLIFF in your Android string XML files you need to include the XLIFF 1.2 namespace:
<resources xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
Here are a few examples of strings from the android localization documentation:
<resources xmlns:xliff="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
<!-- Example placeholder for a special unicode symbol -->
<string name="star_rating">Check out our 5
<xliff:g id="star">\u2605</xliff:g>
</string>
<!-- Example placeholder for a for a URL -->
<string name="app_homeurl">
Visit us at <xliff:g id="application_homepage">http://my/app/home.html</xliff:g>
</string>
<!-- Example placeholder for a name -->
<string name="prod_name">
Learn more at <xliff:g id="prod_gamegroup">Game Group</xliff:g>
</string>
<!-- Example placeholder for a literal -->
<string name="promo_message">
Please use the "<xliff:g id="promotion_code">ABCDEFG</xliff:g>” to get a discount.
</string>
</resources>
To access the Translations Editor in Android Studio, select Open Translations Editor from the context menu for your XML string file (ie. strings.xml) in your project tree (see below).
Convert your strings.xml to csv xml-to-csv
Import to Google Sheets
Translate using the formula =GOOGLETRANSLATE(B2, "auto", "de")
Generate output in another column using =CONCATENATE("<string name=",char(34),A2,char(34),">",C2,"</string>") where A2 is the resource_ID and C2 is the translated string
Copy the whole output column and paste inside the <resource>...</resource> tag
As Saad Mahmud answered, you can copy from the translation editor (ctrl+a ctrl+c) and then paste into a spreadsheet.
You can copy it back from a spreadsheet to the translation editor by only copying the "default value" and other languages columns, click on the topmost default value and paste (ctrl+v).
It also works with subsets (both subsets of rows and columns), as long as they are next to each other.
Be aware that empty cells in the spreadsheet will not blank out the translation in the editor, it will leave the current untouched.
Also be careful that you haven't added or removed any translation keys since the spreadsheet was created...
Export or copy to excel only supported in Windows PC.
Still not yet in MAC
As many others pointed out, you can't simply copy and paste translations from and into Translations Editor since Android Studio 3.2.
The simplest solution I found was saving the Excel file with translations as CSV file and then converting it to XML with regex and vice versa.
To "import" translations the steps:
Save xls/xlsx file with key in first column and translation in second column as CSV file (If you have file with non-ANSI caracters use Google sheets, because Excel doesn't support saving in CSV using utf-8)
Open csv file in text editor which supports "find and replace" with regex (eg. Notepad++)
Open "find and replace" and set regex search
Search ^([^,]*),(.*)$ and replace it with <string name="$1">$2</string>
Copy file to string resources file between tag
Fix possible mistakes
You can use similar method in reverse for "export". Use <string.+name="(.*)".*>(.*)</string> for finding and $1,$2 for replacing. But it only works if every string tag in in one line.
NOTE: If your res folder doesn't contians strings.xml then Android Studio won't show "Open Editor" in top right corner of the strings.xml file(Open the file). In my case all my string res files are named like strings_feature.xml
To copy/paste from Translations Editor use Android Studio 3.2 Version and below. It allows copy/paste of full column.

Android application name error

I tried to build an android application, when I use non-english langues like persian as name of application it causes this error AndroidManifest.xml file missing and no manifest builds but when I use english it works successful, why?
at the top of every XML file in Android you'll see
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
So first I ask you: is persian included in utf-8 encoding?
I had a quick look on this link http://www.utf8-chartable.de/ and it seems to be me that's a no but I'm no language expert and that table might show persian as one of it related or base languages (like portuguese uses latin set)
If persian is not available in the utf-8 your best option to try to get this name in the app name is to create a strings_per.xml (inside the /values/ folder) and in there you put a different encoding and the string you need for the app name.
note that I tried to isolate the problematic variable in its own file because I'm not sure it would be a good idea to mix it with the rest of the manifest.
Farsi IS included in UTF8.
You need to add a string in strings.xml in /res/values.
Then define a farsi name there.
Your string.xml will look like this:
<string name="app_name">اسم اپ</string>
<string name="title_tab1">تماس با ما</string>
<string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
And you will reference it in you manifest.xml like this:
android:label="#string/app_name"
But remember: Farsi characters are not perfectly shown in android 2.2 and 2.3.
The characters are displayed separately. For later androids this is not an issue.

Internationalization of string.xml issue

In my application I do have several different string resources each per locale like:
res/values/string.xml //default
res/values-en/string.xml //english
res/values-it/string.xml //italian
Now the problem - each of files contains hundreds of keys and from time to time I can't really define which language is lacking some keys. Say:
<string name="yes">Yes</string> <!-- Default -->
<string name="yes">Yes</string> <!-- English -->
<string name="yes">Si</string> <!-- Italian -->
And if in German string.xml there'll be no "yes" key corresponding value will be default "Yes" instead of German "Ja" - which is disaster.
Help me to find a way to define lacking string resource keys.
You can also try MOTODEV Studio. You can use it a standalone IDE (based on Eclipse) or as an Eclipse Plugin. What you would like is an editor, which includes, that makes really easy working with localizable strings. It will show you in a same view all the files as columns, so you will not need to do any merge or diff whatsoever.
Use http://winmerge.org/
You can compare files easily.
copy all the files to one text file,, Sort the file and then check one key at once,, loooong method but the most effective one

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