iOS and Android localization using Google Sheets

Basic idea

1. Export your localization files to Google Sheets.
2. Translate the missing localizations or update the existing ones in Google Spreadsheets.
3. Run the script again to import the localizations from the spreadsheet into your project.

Installation

Python 2.7 or preferably Python 3 must be installed on your machine with the pip command also available.

Clone the repository and run pip install -r requirements.txt.

Authorizing gslocalization with Google Sheets

1. Obtain a service account key JSON file from your Google Developer Console
   • Login to https://console.developers.google.com
   • Select your project (or create a new one)
   • Make sure that the Google Drive API and Google Sheets API are enabled
   • Go to Credentials and from the Create credentials menu, select Service account key
   • Select your service account (or create a new one with the App Engine Admin role)
   • Make sure that JSON is selected in the Key type options.
   • Click Create
   • A JSON file will begin downloading. Save this file and use it later for authentication.

ios-gslocalization.py

Usage

python ios-gslocalization.py -x {PATH_TO_XCODEPROJ} -o {XLIFF_OUTPUT_DIR} -a {JSON_AUTH_FILE_PATH} -e {SHARE_EMAIL_ADDRESS} -l {LOCALIZATION_LANGUAGES} -d {DEV_LANGUAGE}

1. PATH_TO_XCODEPROJ - path to your .xcodeproj file
   • used for calling xcodebuild (exporting and importing localizations)
   • the generated XLIFF files are saved to XLIFF_OUTPUT_DIR
2. XLIFF_OUTPUT_DIR - output directory for the generated XLIFF files
3. JSON_AUTH_FILE_PATH - path to the Google Sheets Service account key
4. SHARE_EMAIL_ADDRESS - the email address to share the created spreadsheets
   • since we are using a Service account key, all the spreadsheets are created and owned by the service account (ex. [email protected])
   • after the service account creates the spreadsheets, it transfers the file ownership to the provided email address
   • provide your email address to be able to visualise the results in Google Spreadsheets
5. LOCALIZATION_LANGUAGES - a string containing multiple language codes used for localization
   • ex: "es,ru,ja" for Spanish, Russian and Japanese
   • this does not enable localization for a new language in your Xcode project
   • provide languages that already exist in your project
6. DEV_LANGUAGE (optional, defaults to en) - the language code for the project's developent language

Notes

• This script exports the current localizations for your project using xcodebuild.

• It parses the obtained XLIFF files and uploads them to Google Sheets.

• There is one spreadsheet for every language, with the following name format: {PROJECT_NAME}_{LANGUAGE_NAME}_localizations (ex. MyProject_Spanish_localizations, MyProject_Russian_localizations, etc.). Inside each spreadsheet, there is one worksheet per platform (ex. ios_strings, android_strings). The {PROJECT_NAME} is inferred from the xcodeproj filename.

• All the strings are added to their corresponding spreadsheet, with the following header:

  Source: SOURCE_LANGUAGE | Target: TARGET_LANGUAGE | Example | Comment | String Key | File Path

  • Source: SOURCE_LANGUAGE = text in the source language
  • Target: TARGET_LANGUAGE = text translated in the target language
  • Example = empty if the string contains placeholders (%@, %d, etc.). This is a place to provide an example for translators.
  • Comment = NSLocalisedString comments
  • String Key = the ID of the string
  • File Path = relative path to the source file of the string (.strings file or .storyboard)

• After updating the translation in Google Sheets, run the same script again to import the new strings into your XCode project.

android-gslocalization.py

Usage

python android-gslocalization.py -p {PROJECT_NAME} -r {PATH_TO_RES_FOLDER} -a {JSON_AUTH_FILE_PATH} -e {SHARE_EMAIL_ADDRESS} -l {DEVELOPMENT_LANGUAGE}

1. PROJECT_NAME - project name (used to prefix the spreadsheet name)
2. PATH_TO_RES_FOLDER - path to your Android res folder
   • looks into this folder for all strings.xml files
   • for any strings.xml file, the target language is detected by the parrent folder name (ex. values-es for Spanish)
3. JSON_AUTH_FILE_PATH - path to the Google Sheets Service account key
4. SHARE_EMAIL_ADDRESS - the email address to share the created spreadsheets
   • since we are using a Service account key, all the spreadsheets are created and owned by the service account (ex. [email protected])
   • after the service account creates the spreadsheets, it transfers the file ownership to the provided email address
   • provide your email address to be able to visualise the results in Google Spreadsheets
5. DEVELOPMENT_LANGUAGE - the language code of your development language (default = en)

Notes

• This script loads all the strings.xml files inside PATH_TO_RES_FOLDER.

• It parses the obtained XML files and uploads them to Google Sheets.

• There is one spreadsheet for every language, with the following name format: {PROJECT_NAME}_{LANGUAGE_NAME}_localizations (ex. MyProject_Spanish_localizations, MyProject_Russian_localizations, etc.). Inside each spreadsheet, there is one worksheet per platform (ex. ios_strings, android_strings).

• All the strings are added to their corresponding spreadsheet, with the following header:

  Source: SOURCE_LANGUAGE | Target: TARGET_LANGUAGE | String ID

  • Source: SOURCE_LANGUAGE = text in the source language
  • Target: TARGET_LANGUAGE = text translated in the target language
  • String ID = the ID of the string

• After updating the translation in Google Sheets, run the same script again to overwrite the strings.xml files in your resources folder.

Dependencies

# parsing arguments
argparse

# provides access to Google Sheets API
pygsheets

# XML parsing for XML/XLIFF files
lxml

# type hinting
typing

# colored output in consolde
colorama

# conversion between language code and language name
langcodes; python_version>'3'
langcodes-py2; python_version<'3'

General Tips

1. Keep your project under source control 😉 This allows you to restore your localization files to their previous state, in case this script breaks something.

iOS Tips

1. Use a default value for localized strings. By doing this, you'll have the default value (usually the string in the development language) in the source language column, instead of the string key.
   • For Objective C, use NSLocalizedStringWithDefaultValue(@"KEY", nil, [NSBundle mainBundle], @"DEFAULT_VALUE", @"COMMENT")] instead of NSLocalizedString(@"KEY", @"COMMENT")]
   • For Swift, use NSLocalizedString("KEY", tableName: nil, bundle: Bundle.main, value: "DEFAULT_VALUE", comment: "COMMENT") instead of NSLocalizedString("KEY", comment: "COMMENT")
   • Use this python script to convert the NSLocalizedString calls to include a default value