Stringlate help
- --
-
- I am new to GitHub. Where do I start? -
- How do I tell the developers that I translated their app? -
- Do I need this app to help the developers? -
- How do I load my previous work? -
- What does
%s
or%1$d/%2$d
mean?
- - Why do some locales have more strings than others? -
- What does "this app may use online translation services" mean? -
- I am a dev, should I escape certain sequences? -
- Are projects hosted outside GitHub supported? -
- I will use this app to cause chaos! -
I am new to GitHub. Where do I start?
- -If you're new to GitHub and still want to help the FOSS community, that's -great! You've taken a great decision. The first step is to get your own -GitHub account (it's free!). This step is required -to later let the apps' developers know that you've translated their application.
- -Once this is done, get Stringlate, add the repository of your favourite -application and start translating all the strings to your own locale.
- -How do I tell the developers that I translated their app?
- -You've finished? That was quick! From Stringlate, you're able to export
-the result of your hard work by tapping Menu > Export…
. You can export
-the resulting file to the SD card, to a GitHub Gist, or simply sharing
-the content of the file by any other way (even email).
Once this is done, get the resulting file or URL from wherever you exported it
-and head to the issues page
-of the repository you chose. Click on the green New issue
button (you need
-to be logged in), and title your issue something like "Added XXX translation".
-Provide some link or another way for the author to get your translation, and
-you're done!
Please note that the author might have another way for people to translate -their application, (for example, they might use a different -online platform). However, don't give up if -they close your issue telling you this. Every help is appreciated!
- -Do I need this app to help the developers?
- -Absolutely not. This application was made to make it easier, but it's not
-the only way. You can head to any repository, for example,
-this repository, press the
-T key (to search for a file) and type strings.xml
. This will find
-all the strings in that repository.
The res/values/strings.xml
file is the original file containing all the
-strings. The res/values-xx/strings.xml
paths are other locales (for
-example, en
for English) that someone else already translated.
Click the original file, select Raw
and save it on your computer.
Once this is done, rename the file as, for instance, strings-xx.xml
.
-Open it in a text editor of your choice and start translating all the
-strings which do not contain translatable="false"
. If any tag contains
-translatable="false"
, delete it from the file.
After you've finished, let the developers know that you have a new translation -available as explained above.
- -How do I load my previous work?
- -The first time you add a repository, the strings.xml
files contained in
-it are downloaded to the internal storage of your device, in the directory
-of the application (unless you're a root user, you won't notice this).
If you clear the application data, these files will be gone. Make sure you -didn't have any translation left before doing this or uninstalling!
- -Every time you open a previously saved repository, these files are loaded -automatically, without the need for you to take any further action.
- -When you edit the translation string, these changes are conserved on the phone -RAM. For them to persist, make sure you click the Save button on screen. -Next time you open the application, you will see these changes.
- -What does %s
or %1$d/%2$d
mean?
-
-%s
is used to "insert" another string on that position. For example,
-imagine you had to greet your users with "Hello Username, welcome!".
-Username would be a value that can change, so we would write
-"Hello %s
, welcome!" and the developer would insert the right value there.
The %1$d
syntax, albeit being a bit more complex, simply indicates the
-position to insert a decimal number. For example, when showing the progress
-"42 out of 100", you would write "%1$d
out of %2$d
", because in some
-languages the order might change, and thus the position is required.
Why do some locales have more strings than others?
- -Actually, all the locales have the same amount of strings. By default, -those strings which have already been translated are not shown not to -disturb (if they are translated already, usual thing is you want to translate -the strings left!). However, if you still want to see all the strings, for -example, to review them looking for typos, you can open the menu and enable -"Show translated strings".
- -What does "this app may use online translation services" mean?
-This message means that the application you're trying to translate may use online services -to manage their translations, such as Transifex, Crowdin, Weblate, Zanata, Pootle, etc. Although -you can continue with the translation using Stringlate, you may need additional steps (such as -exporting the result and then re-importing it on those platforms) for the developer to accept -your translation. Most developers will accept the translation effort one way or another, yet -it may be a better idea to make sure whether they use those translation services or not.
- -I am a dev, should I escape certain sequences?
- -No, you should not escape the sequences. These are automatically handled when -parsing and serializing the xml. If you do recognise a escaped sequence on the -original string, please drop an issue so we can handle it too (and debate about -how that one should be escaped).
- -Are projects hosted outside GitHub supported?
- -Yes! You can either enter a GitHub or GitLab URL and it will be recognised.
-If the project is hosted somewhere else, you need to provide the same URL
-you would use when cloning it (probably ending with .git
).
I will use this app to cause chaos!
- -Please don't. Application developers are people like you, with good -intentions and often busy lives. Don't make them waste their time (and users) -on incorrect, incomplete, wrong, or even offensive, translations.
- -There is no way to prevent these things from happening from the application, -or even if this application didn't exist. Developers trust on the good will -of the people who help them. If you're troll, please don't waste your time -on this. There are thousands of websites where you can go to have some fun -instead.
-