mobile-strings-converter

Mobile Strings Converter

A Python package that converts Android & iOS strings files to any supported file type, and vice versa.

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Table of Contents

• About the Project
  • File Types Supported
  • Project Structure
  • Built With
• Release Files
• Getting Started
  • Script Installation
  • Package Installation
• Usage
  • Running the Program
    • Script Flags
  • Using the Package in Your Project
  • Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets
    • Setting Up a Google Account
    • Using the to_google_sheets Function in Your Project
• Notes
  • Indic Languages Supported by PDF Files
  • Languages Not Supported by PDF Files
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• License
• Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Support

About the Project

I have tried to do the whole process of converting a strings resource file into a spreadsheet in Google Sheets by hand, and although you can do it with the Data > Split text to columns option, it is a waste of time to generate the spreadsheet manually. Also, you are limited to spreadsheet files only. For this reason, I decided to create a time-efficient solution that consists of running a Python script in order to do this that with any file type.

In addition to being able to run this script on its own, it can also be installed as a package via PyPI (more information on how to install it here).

File Types Supported

• Android strings format (*.xml)
• CSV
• Google Sheets support
• HTML
• iOS strings format (*.strings)
• JSON
• MD
• ODS
• PDF
• XLSX
• YAML

Project Structure

ASCII directory structure

│   .gitignore
│   .pre-commit-config.yaml
│   LICENSE
│   poetry.lock 
│   pyproject.toml
│   README.md
│   requirements.txt
│   requirements-dev.txt
│
├───.github
│   │   CONTRIBUTING.md
│   │
│   ├───ISSUE_TEMPLATE
│   │       bug_report_template.md
│   │       feature_request_template.md
│   │
│   └───PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE
│           pull_request_template.md
│
├───docs
│       icon.png
│
├───src
│   ├───mobile_strings_converter
│   │       console_style.py
│   │       converter.py
│   │       __init__.py
│   │       __main__.py
│   │
│   ├───assets
│   │       └───fonts
│   │               Aakar.ttf
│   │               AnekTelugu-VariableFont_wdth,wght.ttf
│   │               DejaVuSansCondensed.ttf
│   │               Eunjin.ttf
│   │               fireflysung.ttf
│   │               gargi.ttf
│   │               Gurvetica_a8_Heavy.ttf
│   │               Latha.ttf
│   │               Waree.ttf
│   │
│   ├───controller
│   │       main_controller.py
│   │       __init__.py
│   │
│   ├───model
│   │       transcription.py
│   │       __init__.py
│   │
│   ├───utils
│   │       constants.py
│   │       i18n.py
│   │       path_helper.py
│   │       __init__.py
│   │
│   └───view
│           main_window.py
│           __init__.py
│
└───tests   
    │   base_tests.py
    │   test_get_strings.py
    │   test_android.py
    │   test_csv.py
    │   test_html.py
    │   test_ios.py
    │   test_json.py
    │   test_md.py
    │   test_ods.py
    │   test_pdf.py
    │   test_xlsx.py
    │   test_yaml.py
    │
    └───files
        ├───input
        │       Localizable.strings
        │       strings.xml
        │
        ├───template-with-comments
        │       Localizable.strings
        │       strings.csv
        │       strings.html
        │       strings.json
        │       strings.md
        │       strings.ods
        │       strings.pdf
        │       strings.xlsx
        │       strings.xml
        │       strings.yaml
        │
        └───template-without-comments
                Localizable.strings
                strings.csv
                strings.html
                strings.json
                strings.md
                strings.ods
                strings.pdf
                strings.xlsx
                strings.xml
                strings.yaml

Built With

• openpyxl to generate ODS and XLSX files.
• gspread to generate spreadsheets in Google Sheets.
• protobuf is used by google.oauth2.credentials to authenticate to the user's Google account in order to create the spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
• PyYAML to generate YAML files.
• arabic-reshaper and python-bidi to add arabic characters support for PDF files.
• fpdf2 to generate PDF files.
• lingua-language-detector to recognize the value language when writing a PDF in order to know what font to use.

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Release Files

File	Description	Size
mobile-strings-converter.zip	PDF file support for almost all languages (see exceptions)	8.43 MB

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Getting Started

Script Installation

1. Download the .zip file from the latest release.
2. (Optional but recommended) Create a Python virtual environment in the project root. If you're using virtualenv, you would run virtualenv venv.
3. (Optional but recommended) Activate the virtual environment:

   # on Windows
   . venv/Scripts/activate
   # if you get the error `FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnauthorizedAccess`, run this:
   Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process
   # and then . venv/Scripts/activate
   
   # on macOS and Linux
   source venv/Scripts/activate
   

4. Open the command line and run pip install -r path/to/requirements.txt to install the required packages to run the script.

Package Installation

Install the PyPI package by running pip install mobile-strings-converter.

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Usage

Running the Program

To convert one file to another file:

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -f *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE]

To include the comments of the .xml/.strings input file in the output file, add the -p (also --print-comments) flag. Note that it will be ignored for other input file types.

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -f *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -p

To convert multiple files at once and save them to the specified directory passed in the -d flag, use the-t flag followed by the desired file type extension (e.g., .json). Note that the program will create the directory if it doesn't exist.

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -d [DIR_PATH] -t [TARGET_TYPE]

To convert supported files in a directory and its subdirectories and save them to a directory:

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py [INPUT_DIR_PATH] -d [OUTPUT_DIR_PATH] -t [TARGET_TYPE]

To convert supported files in multiple directories and their subdirectories and save them to a directory:

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py [INPUT_DIR_PATH_1] [INPUT_DIR_PATH_2] [INPUT_DIR_PATH_3] -d [OUTPUT_DIR_PATH] -t [TARGET_TYPE]

For multiple file inputs and directories, the name of the files will be the same as the input file. For example, if there is a file named spanish.xml in a directory, the output file name will be spanish.[TARGET_TYPE]

See the Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets section to create a spreadsheet in your Google account.

Script Flags

Flag	Description
-h or --help	Displays help text for the program.
-f or --output-filepath	Path to save the converted file. Only works if only one input file is provided. The file extension can be chosen from the list of supported file types.
-d or --output-dir	Directory where the converted files will be saved. Compatible with single and multiple input files as well as directories. The specified directory will be created if it does not already exist.
-t or --target-type	Target file type to convert the files (e.g., .pdf, .json). Required if multiple file paths or the --output-dir is specified.
-g or --google-sheets	If provided, a Google spreadsheet will be created in your Google account. You must pass the service_account.json with the -c flag.
-c or --credentials	service_account.json filepath. Mandatory if you want to generate a spreadsheet in your Google account. You can learn how to generate it in the Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets section.
-p or --print-comments	If provided, the commented strings will be printed in the output file. Only valid for input files of type .xml or .strings. Otherwise it is ignored.

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Using the Package in Your Project

After following the steps in the Getting Started section, import the package and the wrapper function(s) you want to use:

# Using the `get_strings` function
from mobile_strings_converter import get_strings  

get_strings(
   input_filepath=Path("strings.xml"), 
   with_comments=True
)

Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets

Setting Up a Google Account

Before going further into running the commands to do this, note that you need to generate a service_account.json file. Follow these steps to get one:

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Create a new project or select an existing project.
3. Go to the APIs & Services page, click on Dashboard and then click on Enable APIs and Services.
4. Search for Google Sheets API and enable it.
5. Go to the Credentials page, click on Create credentials, and then choose Service account.
6. Give your service account a name and select a role. For this purpose, you can select Project -> Editor.
7. Click on the Create key button, select the JSON format and download the service_account.json file.
8. Share your Google Sheets file with the email address that is specified in the client_email field in the service_account.json file.

Alternatively, you can create an .xlsx file and open it in Google Sheets if you do not want to go through the hassle of generating the service_account.json file.

Once you have the service_account.json file, you can create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets by running the following command:

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -g -c path/to/service_account.json 

If you want to generate an output file along with the spreadsheet, run this:

python path/to/mobile_strings_converter.py *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE] -g -c path/to/service_account.json -o *.[SUPPORTED_FILE_TYPE]

The name of the sheet will be the same as the name of the input file.

Using the to_google_sheets Function in Your Project

from mobile_strings_converter import to_google_sheets

to_google_sheets(
    input_filepath=Path("path/to/strings-file"),
    sheet_name="MyProject strings",
    credentials_filepath=Path("path/to/service_account.json"),
    with_comments=True,
)

Notes

Indic Languages Supported by PDF Files

• Hindi
• Marathu
• Oriya
• Tibetan
• Gujarati
• Telugu
• Tamil
• Punjabi

Languages Not Supported by PDF Files

• Bengali _{(not possible to print correctly using fpdf2)}
• Dhivehi _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Kannada _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Khmer _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Lao _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Malayalam _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Meiteilon (manipuri) _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Myanmar burmese _{(not possible to print correctly using fpdf2)}
• Odia (Oriya) _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Sinhala _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}
• Tigrinya _{(not recognized by lingua-language-detector)}

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Roadmap

• Add support for converting a file (not .xml or .strings) into a strings resource file (.xml or .strings).
• Add support for multiple files input.
• Add support for accepting the path to a directory as input.
• Add support for accepting the path to a directory as output.
• Make a web version.

You can propose a new feature creating an issue.

Contributing

Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated. Please, read the CONTRIBUTING.md file, where you can find more detailed information about how to contribute to the project.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Authors

• HenestrosaDev [e-mail] (José Carlos López Henestrosa)

See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.

Acknowledgments

I have made use of the following resources to make this project:

• How to create a Python package

Support

Would you like to support the project? That's very kind of you! You can go to my Ko-Fi profile by clicking on the button down below.

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