Transifex

Transifex

  • Documentation
  • File formats
  • Apple strings

Apple strings

  • Associated file extensions: .strings
  • i18n type: STRINGS
  • Encoding: UTF-16

.strings files are used for localizing macOS and iOS apps.

Sample Data 

/* registration information: Username */
"username" = "Username:";

/* registration information: Password */
"password" = "Password:";

/* registration information: Email Address */
"email_address" = "Email Address:";

/* registration information: User Role */
"user_role" = "User Role";

/* registration information: Phone */
"phone" = "Phone";

/* registration information: Country */
"country" = "Country";

Each key-value pair enclosed in double quotation marks corresponds to a string entry.

  • Keys are on the left side of the equal sign and considered the identifiers of the strings. This information is the one that our parser takes into account in order to parse the strings as unique entries. The key of the entry is available in Transifex Web Interface under the context tab in the editor
  • Values are on the right side of the equal sign and handled as the translatable text. This is the text that the translator will see in the editor and translate it into other languages.

Transifex also supports developer notes that a translator can see under the context tab in the editor. Such comments are enclosed inside C-style comment delimiters (/* and */) and are placed immediately before the entry they refer to as it is shown in the sample above.

apple_strings_editor.png#asset:4581


Plural Support

Below, there are some illustrative examples based on the language plural rules that CLDR standards provide:

English file: 

"time_minutes##{one}" = "%@ minute";

"time_minutes##{other}" = "%@ minutes";

"result##{one}" = "%@ Result";

"result##{other}" = "%@ Results";

Arabic file:

"time_minutes##{zero}" = "%@ دقيقة";
"time_minutes##{one}" = "%@ دقيقة";
"time_minutes##{two}" = "%@ دقيقة";
"time_minutes##{few}" = "%@ دقيقة";
"time_minutes##{many}" = "%@ دقيقة";
"time_minutes##{other}" = "%@ دقيقة";

"result##{zero}" = "%@ النتائج";
"result##{one}" = "%@ النتيجة";
"result##{two}" = "%@ النتائج";
"result##{few}" = "%@ النتائج";
"result##{many}" = "%@ النتائج";
"result##{other}" = "%@ النتائج";

Note

Do you want to find out more about plurals in Transifex? Please check here.

Entries with identical keys

In case you have a .strings file where more than one entries have the same key/identifier, then:

  • Our parser will parse the first instance and ignore any other entries for which the same key has been provided. This means that in the editor, the translator will see only the entry that was parsed first.
  • After the translation process is completed and the translation file is requested, all the entries will be included in the file and then ones that were ignored during parsing will be translated accordingly upon export.

Download Options

translator:

  • translated, reviewed, proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • untranslated strings are filled in with the source text but commented out

onlytranslated:

  • untranslated strings are returned empty
  • translated, reviewed, proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations

onlyreviewed:

  • reviewed and proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • translated and untranslated strings are returned empty

onlyproofread:

  • proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • the rest are returned empty

sourceastranslation:

  • translated, reviewed, proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • untranslated strings are returned in the source language

default:

  • translated, reviewed, proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • untranslated strings are returned in the source language

reviewed:

  • reviewed and proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • untranslated and translated strings are returned in the source language

proofread:

  • proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • reviewed, translated, and untranslated strings are returned in the source language

untranslated:

  • translated, reviewed, proofread strings are returned with the corresponding translations
  • untranslated strings are returned in the source language

Lin

Lin is a useful helper tool that offers auto-completion in XCode for NSLocalizedString. Check out the Lin website and the GitHub repo.