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 to do this 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).
*.xml
)*.strings
)/
│ .gitignore
│ .pre-commit-config.yaml
│ LICENSE
│ poetry.lock
│ pyproject.toml
│ README.md
│ requirements.txt
│ requirements-dev.txt
│
├───.github
│ │ CONTRIBUTING.md
│ │ dependabot.yml
│ │
│ ├───ISSUE_TEMPLATE
│ │ bug_report_template.md
│ │ feature_request_template.md
│ │
│ ├───PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE
│ │ pull_request_template.md
│ │
│ └───workflows
│ build.yaml
│ publish.yaml
│
├───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
│
└───tests
│ base_tests.py
│ test_android.py
│ test_csv.py
│ test_get_strings.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
google.oauth2.credentials
to authenticate to the user's Google account in order to create the spreadsheet in Google Sheets.Download the .zip
file from the latest release.
(Optional but recommended) Create a Python virtual environment in the project root. If you're using virtualenv
, you would run virtualenv venv
.
(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
Open the command line and run pip install -r path/to/requirements.txt
to install the required packages to run the script.
Install the PyPI package by running pip install mobile-strings-converter
.
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
(or --print-comments
) option. 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 in the specified directory specified with the -d
option, use the-t
option 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.
A full list of the program command's options are as follows:
POSITIONAL ARGUMENT | DESCRIPTION |
---|---|
input_paths |
Files or directory paths of supported files to convert. See the list of supported file types. |
OPTION | DESCRIPTION |
---|---|
-h, --help |
Show the help text and exit. |
-v, --version |
Show script version info and exit. |
-f FILE_PATH, --output-file FILE_PATH |
File path to save the converted file. Only works if only one input file is provided. See the list of supported file types. |
-d DIR_PATH, --output-dir DIR_PATH |
Directory path 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 FILE_TYPE, --target-type FILE_TYPE |
Target file type to convert the files. Required when specifying multiple file paths or --output-dir . See the list of supported file types. |
-g CREDENTIALS_PATH, --google-sheets CREDENTIALS_PATH |
Create a Google spreadsheet with the output in your Google account. You must specify the service_account.json path. You can learn how to generate it in the Generating a Spreadsheet in Google Sheets section. |
-p, --print-comments |
Print commented strings from the input file to the output file. Only valid for .xml or .strings input file types, otherwise it is ignored. |
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
)
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:
service_account.json
file.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.
to_google_sheets
Function in Your Projectfrom 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,
)
You may encounter this error on iOS when using a generated .strings
file:
validation failed: Couldn't parse property list because the input data was in an invalid format
This is because the input file has double quotes in some NAME or VALUE. To identify the line with the error, you have to do the following on macOS:
cd
into your project root.cd [LANGUAGE_CODE].lproj
(e.g., cd es.lproj
)plutil -lint Localizable.strings
When you run step 3, you will either get an error telling you what is wrong with your file, or you will be told that the file is correct.
✅ Success output example:
╰─➤ plutil -lint Localizable.strings
Localizable.strings: OK
❌ Error output example:
╰─➤ plutil -lint Localizable.strings
2024-06-05 11:04:08.614 plutil[86874:16115488] CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): Old-style plist parser: missing semicolon in dictionary on line 293. Parsing will be abandoned. Break on _CFPropertyListMissingSemicolon to debug.
Localizable.strings: Unexpected character " at line 1
[!NOTE] The last line of the
plutil
output on error will always beUnexpected character at line 1
. However, the real error is in the line above, where it says that the error is on line 293 due to a missing semicolon.
.xml
or .strings
) into a strings resource file (.xml
or .strings
).You can propose a new feature creating an issue.
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.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE
for more information.
See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.
I have made use of the following resources to make this project:
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.