Attempt on Localization

ar2rsawseen · December 2013

If you mean the title that is shown in IOS, then nothing to do with Gideros, it should be done the same way as described in your link (localizing InfoPlist.strings )

chipster123 · January 2014

@OZApps

@Chipster123, while that resource from IBM is a good reference point, are you sure that it works for you on the iOS devices? For ZDay I had to get Chinese and English working, with Chinese, I can see zh_Hans_XX and zh_Hant_XX but I had to just use the zh_Hans or the zh_Hant (which is Hans for simplified and Hant for traditional, we went with simplified only)

What font did you use for this? And could you get a mix of English and Chinese in the same instance for English words that have no Chinese translation?

VessaT · March 2014

I have been working with this localization too: poeditor.com and it really does a great job. It support a large number of translators on the same project, working on different languages. There are also plenty of features that ease the work.It has API and github integration also.

boriskey · September 2014

was looking for a localization library and wow another gem from Arturs! I cannot thank you enough for all the code you created and shared with community.

ar2rsawseen · September 2014

Thats why I got to work for Gideros

boriskey · October 2014

Hi @ar2rsawseen

you have this example

 local text = TextField.new(font, string.format("Hello, %s", "Arturs")

What if my string parameter needs to be localized as well and that parameter is actually a variable. Something like that:

 local text = TextField.new(font, string.format("Animal Name: %s", curAnimalName)

And then curAnimalName can contain 90-100 names which need to be localized.

And here is another example - I have a table below and need to localize table values.

self.questions = {'ONE','TWO','THREE','FOUR','FIVE','SIX','SEVEN','EIGHT','NINE','TEN'}

I am thinking about making data variable global in your Localize.lua and then I access localized values like this:

 local text = TextField.new(font, string.format("Animal Name: %s", Localize.data[curAnimalName])
 
self.questions = {Localize.data["ONE"],Localize.data["TWO"]}

Is there a better way?

ar2rsawseen · October 2014

@boriskey what Localize does is creating a wrapper function around existing method, and simply checks if provided value is in the localization table.

So it does not matter if you provide a variable or string value, it should localize it.

There is no localization for tables, but not the way you hold the string matters, but how you use it later.

so if later you will still do something like:

for i = 1, #self.questions do
    TextField.new(nil, self.questions[i]) -- the string will be localized here
end

It will either way be localized when you use it

the library was designed to localization would happen completely seamlessly without the changes in the code

If something is not working as expected, well that is another problem, try to provide small example that demonstrates the issue, and I'll look into it

boriskey · October 2014

i guess I am doing something wrong here.

here is an example using your sample project.

I added these lines to ru_RU.lua

l["wolf"] = "Волк"
l["bear"] = "Медведь"
l["Animal is %s"] = "Животное %s"

and this in the main.lua:

local curAnimalName = "bear"
local text2 = TextField.new(font, "Animal is %s"..curAnimalName)
text2:setPosition(0,300)
stage:addChild(text2)

It does not work...

But yes, If you do this, it works:

local curAnimalName = "bear"
local text2 = TextField.new(font, curAnimalName)
text2:setPosition(0,300)
stage:addChild(text2)

Does it make sense?

ar2rsawseen · October 2014

@boriskey you should do it like:

local curAnimalName = "bear"
local text2 = TextField.new(font, string.format("Animal is %s", curAnimalName))
text2:setPosition(0,300)
stage:addChild(text2)

because other way you simply have a concatenated string: "Animal is %sbear"
which does not match any localized string

ar2rsawseen · October 2014

Ah I see, where the problem is
string.format is set to only localize first parameter, for some reason

You need to open Localize.lua and change:

load(string, "format", 1)

to

load(string, "format", {1,2})

so it would try to localize both parameters

boriskey · October 2014

works perfect now! I knew you had a better way to tackle this

Thanks a lot!

boriskey · October 2014

unless I am missing something again, looks like it does not work when string.format parameter is a number:

local score = 1000
local text2 = TextField.new(font, string.format("Score: %d", score))
text2:setPosition(0,300)
stage:addChild(text2)

I tried both %d and %s

ar2rsawseen · October 2014

@boriskey what do you mean by not working? Number is not localized?

But seriously is there an error? Or what would be expected output that you can't achieve?

boriskey · October 2014

lol I am sorry, I should've been clearer. In the example above the number won't be showed at all, so "Score: %d" will be localized but %d will be replaced with nothing. So you will see "Очки: " and no number after it.

ar2rsawseen · October 2014

Hmm, that's interesting, because I just tried and in my case both:

print(string.format("Hello, %s", 1))

and

print(string.format("Hello, %d", 1))

outputted number and localized text

the only way it does not provide number is when I use:

print(string.format("Hello, ", 1))

are you sure you have %s or %d in your localized string to which original string is changed? Because it is changed before being processed by string.format

boriskey · October 2014

are you sure you have %s or %d in your localized string to which original string is changed? Because it is changed before being processed by string.format

shame on me - forgot to put %d in a localized string

thank you for your help!

Apollo14 · February 2018

Guys! I'm testing @ar2rsawseen 's Localize.lua
Why it doesn't work after exporting APK? (app starts, but shows default english text, not localized, though my locale is ru_RU)
The project works normally while testing on PC and Gideros Android Player.
Some permissions have to be set? I've tried to add plugins 'Require' and 'Lua file system' to the project, it didn't help.

p. s. here's .gproj & exported apk of my test app:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrx2mbqw3lclnoe/localizationTestProject.zip?dl=0

I've tried with/without 'string.format', with/without array.

txt1 = TextField.new(segoe, myArr[1])
txt4 = TextField.new(segoe, string.format("How are you", 1))
txt3 = TextField.new(segoe, "Detected lang: "..application:getLocale()) --shows ru_RU

oleg · February 2018

виведи десь на екран текст
application:getLocale()

і скомпіль, і потесть шо видає

SinisterSoft · February 2018

This is what I wrote for my programs, works fine for me:

function arabicProcessing(text)
	local Achar={0x002,0x024,0x062,0x084,0x0C4,0x104,0x144,0x184,0x1C2,0x1E2,0x202,0x222,
                               0x244,0x284,0x2C4,0x304,0x344,0x384,0x3C4,0x404,0x440,0x440,0x440,0x440,0x440,0x440,
                               0x444,0x484,0x4C4,0x504,0x544,0x584,0x5C4,0x602,0x622,0x644}
	local last=0	
	local rtext=""
	for p, cur in utf8.codes(text) do 
		if ((last>=0x627) and (last<=0x64A)) then
			local A=Achar[last-0x626]
			local unibase=0xFE8D+(A>>4)
			local of=0 --0=iso,1=fin,2=ini,3=med
			if ((cur>=0x627) and (cur<=0x64A)) then
				of=2+state
			else
				of=state
			end
			state=1
			if (of>=(A&0xF)) then of=0 end
			of=of+unibase
			rtext=rtext..utf8.char(of)
		else
			if last>0 then
				rtext=rtext..utf8.char(last)
			end
		state=0
		end
		last=cur
	end
	if last>0 then
		rtext=rtext..utf8.char(last)
	end
	text=""
	for p, cur in utf8.codes(rtext) do
		if cur==0x28 or cur==0x29 then cur=cur~1 end
		text=utf8.char(cur)..text
	end
	return text
end
 
local translated={}
 
pcall(function() require "lsqlite3" end)
src_db="zombierocks.db"
dst_db="|T|zombierocks.db"
if file_exists(dst_db) then
	file_delete(dst_db)
end
file_copy(src_db,dst_db)
 
if sqlite3 then
	local db=sqlite3.open(dst_db,sqlite3.OPEN_READONLY)
	if db then
		local sql=db:execute("PRAGMA temp_store=2;")
 
		osLanguage=lower(sub(application:getLanguage(),1,2))
		message("Language_"..osLanguage)
		if osLanguage=="pt" then osLanguage="pb" end -- brazil and portugal share the same language
 
		--osLanguage="ar" -- language to test
 
		if osLanguage~="en" then
			local found=false
			local sql=db:prepare("PRAGMA table_info(languages);")
			if sql then
				for n,l in sql:urows() do
					if l==osLanguage then
						found=true
						break
					end
				end
			end
 
			if found then
				local sql=db:prepare("SELECT en,"..osLanguage.." FROM languages;")
				if sql then
					for w,t in sql:urows() do
						if t and t~="" then
							if osLanguage=="ar" then
								osRightToLeft=true
								t=arabicProcessing(t)
							else
								local conv={"ę","e",
											"Ő","Õ",
											"ő","õ",
											"Ű","Û",
											"ű","û",
											"ý","y",
											"’","'",
											"“","'",
											"”","'",
											"…","..."}
								for loop=1,#conv,2 do 	-- replace letters our font doesn't have
									t=gsub(t,conv[loop],conv[loop+1])
								end
							end
							translated[w]=t
						end
					end
				end
				local n={"fr","it","se","hu","es","pb","ru","cs","ja"}
				for loop=1,#n do
					if n[loop]==osLanguage then
						narrow=0.8 -- set x scale  multiplier for certain languages
						break
					end
				end
				if osLanguage=="ru" then narrow=0.7 end -- custom width for specific languages
			end
		end
 
		db:close()
	else
		message("No_database")
	end
else
	message("No_sqlite3")
end
 
local function translate(t)
	return translated[t] or t
end

I have a sqlite database with a key field called "en" and other fields that are the two letter language code, eg "fr".

If the English text column has the string and the specific language column has some text then it will use that text, else the original text will be used. Because it uses the string as the table id then it's fast enough.

To use I just put something like:

translate("Rocks, People & Plants!")

I have this earlier on to make some string functions faster:

local sub,len,upper,lower,format,gsub=string.sub,string.len,string.upper,string.lower,string.format,string.gsub

Apollo14 · February 2018

oleg said:
виведи десь на екран текст
application:getLocale()

і скомпіль, і потесть шо видає

application:getLocale() --it shows ru_RU, but ru_RU.lua doesn't work
@oleg do you use Localize.lua class in your projects, you had no problem with that?

@SinisterSoft thx a lot! I hoped that @ar2rsawseen 's Localize.lua will work.

Did somebody successfully use his Localize.lua class?

SinisterSoft · February 2018

For games I think the faster the better and so a straight translation table seems best over using a class.

oleg · February 2018

@Apollo14 я не перевіряв просто ідеї:
на файлі ru_RU.lua виключив "exсlude from execution"?
спробуй ru_RU.lua кинути в корінь і напряму написати io.read("|R|ru_RU.lua")

Apollo14 · February 2018

after further testing it seems that 'Localize.lua' is pretty much broken, maybe @ar2rsawseen will take a look at it someday

@SinisterSoft 's variant looks good but I'm not familiar with most of the code there, I'll have to learn how to work with sqlite later on

I think for starters I'll try to stick to the simplest method:

mainArr= {"Hi dude!","How are you?","How is mom?"}
esES = {"Hola amigo!","Cómo estás?","Cómo está mamá?"}
 
if application:getLocale() == 'es_ES' then
	mainArr = esES
elseif application:getLocale() == 'tr_TR' then
	mainArr = trTR
--etc...
end
 
txt1 = TextField.new(segoe, myArr[1])
--etc...

P. S. @SinisterSoft could you please show some very basic variant of doing it with sqlite?
Like if we had only 3 phrases to localize (in my code above).
THANKS!

SinisterSoft · February 2018

I use sqlite db browser ( http://sqlitebrowser.org/ ) to create and edit a database, I then include the database with my project and add the luasqlite plugin to the project.

I've attached two pictures showing the database structure and an example of what a populated database looks like.

You then load the code and just use something like:

txt1=TextField.new(segoe,translate("Hi dude!"))

totebo · March 2018

I've translated one of my game, Fast Food Rampage, into a number of languages. I used Google Docs instead of a database, which helps a lot because you can share the document directly with the translators.

Each row in the spreadsheet has an "id" column, then a column for each language (with the language code as its title).

Then it's exported to CSV which is loaded by Gideros when the app starts. I detect which locale the device uses. Then, to get a translated text I just go:

local str = translate( id )

It worked really well. Thanks to Nicoll Hunt leading me down the right path on that one.

SinisterSoft · March 2018

yes, csv file could be used instead of a database table, json table, etc...

MoKaLux · August 2018

@totebo hello there, I tried to translate to arabic with no luck. I can use arabic in java (on android) with no problem but with gideros I am at lost. I used the same approach as you (an excel file with headers) that works great.

My problem is I searched but could not find how to load a csv and read from it in gideros. Could somebody give me some advice please?

It is my last resort to try to translate to arabic using this method

Thank you.

Apollo14 · August 2018

MoKaLux said:
@totebo hello there, I tried to translate to arabic with no luck. I can use arabic in java (on android) with no problem but with gideros I am at lost. I used the same approach as you (an excel file with headers) that works great.

My problem is I searched but could not find how to load a csv and read from it in gideros. Could somebody give me some advice please?

It is my last resort to try to translate to arabic using this method

Thank you.

here's some info on parsing CSV:
http://giderosmobile.com/forum/discussion/6520/csv-parser/p1

MoKaLux · August 2018

thank you Apollo14 for the prompt reply. I saw that post doing my research but did not try all the csv code. Now I have clicked on all of them and github.com/geoffleyland/lua-csv may do the trick. Thanks again. I am trying it right away! I will let you know.

MoKaLux · August 2018

I give up! going back to java :-(

libgdx here I come!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

Attempt on Localization

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

Attempt on Localization

Comments