Develop Reference

Converting hard coded strings to string resources

So, i kind of created a monster. Built an android game for few years and used lots of hardcoded strings. Now i want to support different languages. My questions - is there an automatic way to create these resources?
for example tell Android studio for all the "hard coded" warnings apply extract string resource.
I aw aware of the inspect code that show you localization warnings, i am looking for a way to automate the fix

AFAIK, it's not possible to fix that automatically. You need to press Alt+Ctrl+Shift+i and type hardcoded strings. After completion of the finding process, manually create them in strings.xml.

I am attaching a link to site that will convert your string.xml to different language you want and then download translated string.xml in your stings folder, it will translate each string step by step, if this is what you want, hope it helps
https://asrt.gluege.boerde.de

Which is Better use or don't use string.xml? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Why to use strings.xml?
(3 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
Commonly android programmer use string.xml because it recommended by ADT android like android studio or eclipse (at least that what I thought) , but lately I think using string.xml is waste of resources ... we can directly named the text on layout widget or app name directly instead of declare it on string.xml and call it on layout later ...
Can any one explain that my thought is right or wrong ?
Thank you

It's possible to directly name your text. But resources are really helpful when your text have to change depending of your users' configurations, such as language. That's why it is recommanded to do it this way.
It is also a way to avoid having too many informations to manage in one file for the developper so he can focus on the way he wants his layout to look like. Android IDEs make string resources easy to use for you. I would recommand you keep using them.

There is a reason you use strings.xml and that is to support multiple locale just to provide one point. Also its easily extensible as compared to hardcoding your strings...

One of its use that You can use multiple languages for your app using string.xml
So in the folder values you would have strings.xml with this content:
<string name="hello">Hello</string>
In values-fr a strings.xml with this content:
<string name="hello">Bonjour</string>
It will automatically pick up your default language selected.
and other is, suppose you are using same string multiple places. so in XML, it would be easy to change by changing in only one place.

If you use string.xml you will have a global access to the all string variables used in the application .
If you hard-code the string values in the xml resources , you will have slight improvement in UI rendering

Convert I18n Iphone Files to Android

I have an iOS App localized (with Localizable.strings files).
I've built now an Android version. I understand the way the i18n is made on android but I would like to avoid redoing the i18n, as almost all the Strings have the same meaning between iOS and Android.
Are there any tools that will do this conversion, or at least speed up the process?
Edit:
Ideally I would like to find a method/tool that would do the following
Input:
'iOS Localizable.strings files-(en,fr,it,pt,etc)'
'res/values/strings.xml'
Output:
'res/values-en/strings.xml'
'res/values-fr/strings.xml'
'res/values-it/strings.xml'
'res/values-pt/strings.xml'
'res/values-etc/strings.xml'

There is a specialised service here: Loco.
There are threads here on SO which deal with conversation:
Are there any tools to convert an Iphone localized string file to a string resources file that can be used in Android?
Any tool to convert Android's XML localization to iPhone's .strings file?
Another possiblity would be to use an online translation service. These services accepts text not only in Android and iPhone but also in many other formats. Upload the android text and download the iPhone text. A list of available services can be found on SO, see Any collaborative tool/website to localize an Android app? Some of these services are commercial, but even these provide a 30days test period. But note that the main focus is on translation and not on conversation.

Here is some code that does that: https://github.com/wrapp/LocalizedStrings2Android
Put it in a jar and it is ready to use.

You can use this tool I created on JSFiddle:
https://jsfiddle.net/danielgindi/x9njj9gj/
[StackOverflow requires me to write some code here because of the JSFiddle link]
Just paste in your localization strings inside the correct box, and you'll get the converted version in the other boxes (Between Android, iOS, and JS).
This tries to preserve comments too.
Cheers!

Translation tool

am wondering if is possible to use a feature on my app that can translate the app to other languages so the user can select through a list of languages so as he can read the app even if he doesnt speak English, thanks a lot

If you use the framework's localization facilities, this will happen automatically based on the user's language setting on their device
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/localization.html
Basically, instead of using string literals in your code (ie. txt.setText("Something") or android:text="Something"), you create these in your strings.xml file and use the automatically created reference id's.
res/values/strings.xml:
<string name="something">Something</string>
Then, you create alternate res/values folders for the other languages you support and create a similar strings.xml file there.
res/values-es/strings.xml
<string name="something">Algo</string>
Then your layouts and codes would have txt.setText(R.string.something) or android:text="#string/something".
You can do the same thing for drawable, layout, menu, etc.

"to use a feature on my app that can translate the app to other languages"
I do not think such feature exist from Google. But if you write the app according Google's localization guide then you can use our Nativer app, which is designed exactly for that. It takes you language resources - translates with a machine and then let's the crowd to correct it. All these happens in runtime - so you do not need to bother when the language translation finished by the crowd. You can find further info here transround.com
Peter

Is there a way to add or change Android apps language after packaging it into an APK?

In the case of a windows application(EXE/DLL), we can change or add language resources within the binary without re-compiling it. Can the same be done in case of an Android application? Is there any editor available to make this happen?
My plan is to develop the application in English and then release it to the sales department, where they will be responsible for the localization of the application without compiling and packaging it into a new APK. I just want to split the development part and localization part of the app.

The correct way to localize is to create a string resource for your base language and then have that localized and reimported into your project for every language that you support.
Much more detail can be found in the Localization documentation.
I don't believe there is a safe/supported way to inject localized strings into your app after it's been built.

No. You can not, because once your apk is signed then modifying it after this (you can always do that as apk is just a zip file) will corrupt the signed binary.

When having multiple languages with your application you have to build them into the application itself. Android uses XML files to store strings used within your application. Android allows you to add language localization files containing local specific strings. You can't do this without recompiling your project so you'll want to do it as a future update or right from the start. But you can't have the marketing department do it, that's just not a good idea.

As others have said, the short answer is no. The long(er) answer is sort of. If you pack all your language resources into remote XML that can be updated from the web, then with a little bit of forethought you can do all sorts of live updates to your app's strings, graphics, etc.

So if you want to use the standard R.string method for everything it will be a little difficult. I think it's possible to do something funky with a dynamic classloader for the assets and static dex classes (basically classes of data with just inline byte arrays that can be decoded after). However that would still require compiling. See Custom Class Loading in Dalvik for more info.
Another approach would be more of a standard Java implementation. Java has a class known as ResourceBundle. You could create a ResourceBundle from a property file (key-value plain text, or even property xml). Then these files could be loaded outside the apk, via a network connection or sdcard or other file type resource and deleted as necessary. You will have to write the loader code for it, but that's going to happen with any solution. This solution will be less performant and outside the standard design methods for android but it will solve the problem being asked to solve. Like you won't be able to use R.string or #string/whatever for any of these resources but I think you may be able to write an adapter to such resources (like your own TextView extension and whatever that would allow all of this). It's a matter mostly of how much work you want to invest in solving this actual problem.
Honestly I would opt for trying to distribute whole apks with only the targeted language if you are trying to save space, but then there is no way to change locale for the app at runtime :(