Is there a way to make `genstrings` work with `LocalizedStringKey`? - ios

Is there a way get Apple's genstrings command line tool to recognize localizable string keys defined from SwiftUI's LocalizedStringKey initializer?
For this input file (testing-genstrings.swift): ...
import UIKit
import SwiftUI
enum L10n {
static let test0 = NSLocalizedString("TEST0", comment: "")
static let test1 = LocalizedStringKey("TEST1")
static func test2(_ parameter: String) -> LocalizedStringKey {
return LocalizedStringKey("TEST2_\(parameter)")
}
static func test3(_ parameter: String) -> String {
return NSLocalizedString("TEST3_\(parameter)", comment: "")
}
static func test4(_ parameter: String) -> String {
return String.localizedStringWithFormat(NSLocalizedString("TEST4", comment: ""), parameter)
}
}
let test5 = "TEST5"
let test6 = "TEST6"
let test7 = "TEST7"
struct TestView: View {
var body: some View {
VStack {
Text(L10n.test0)
Text(L10n.test1)
Text(L10n.test2("foo"))
Text(L10n.test3("bar"))
Text(test5)
Text(LocalizedStringKey(test6))
Text(NSLocalizedString(test7, ""))
Text("TEST8")
Text("TEST9_\("baz")")
}
}
}
...genstrings generates this output:
$ genstrings -SwiftUI -s LocalizedStringKey testing-genstrings.swift && iconv -c -f utf-16 -t utf-8 Localizable.strings
genstrings: error: bad entry in file testing-genstrings.swift (line = 9): Argument is not a literal string.
genstrings: error: bad entry in file testing-genstrings.swift (line = 11): Argument is not a literal string.
genstrings: error: bad entry in file testing-genstrings.swift (line = 12): Argument is not a literal string.
genstrings: error: bad entry in file testing-genstrings.swift (line = 36): Argument is not a literal string.
genstrings: error: bad entry in file testing-genstrings.swift (line = 37): Argument is not a literal string.
genstrings: error: bad entry in file testing-genstrings.swift (line = 37): Argument is not a literal string.
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"bar" = "bar";
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"foo" = "foo";
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"TEST0" = "TEST0";
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"TEST3_\(parameter)" = "TEST3_\(parameter)";
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"TEST4" = "TEST4";
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"TEST8" = "TEST8";
/* No comment provided by engineer. */
"TEST9_%#" = "TEST9_%#";
You can see that it recognizes the keys defined via NSLocalizedString and Text's initializer Text() initializer that uses ExpressibleByStringInterpolation (TEST9_%# in the example), but fails on all keys defined using LocalizedStringKey.

genstrings is relatively naive. It is looking for a function with two parameters, the first unnamed, the second named "comment".
If you added the following extension:
public extension LocalizedStringKey {
init(_ value: String, comment: String) {
self.init(value)
}
}
and always used that, you'd be able to use LocalizedStringKey by passing -s LocalizedStringKey to genstrings.
Keep in mind that if you declared LocalizedStringKey as a return type or a variable, that would give a genstrings error, too. So you'd need a separate typealias LocalizedStringKeyResult = LocalizedStringKey that you use when reference LocalizedStringKey but don't want genstrings to complain.
And, of course, you wouldn't get the interpolation you want because genstrings applies that only to Text.
The real answer is... don't use LocalizedStringKey. Use Text when you can (to get interpolation). Use NSLocalizedString when you can't.

Related

iOS Swift: How to convert String to StaticString?

func generateDescription(_ prefix: String) {
return (prefix + " Some Text Here")
}
let str: String = generateDescription("Some prefix text here")
How do I cast or generate a StaticString from this runtime generated string? I need to pass str to a method from a library that has a StaticString parameter (I have no control over the library).
I am thinking of something like this:
let staticStr = StaticString(str)
But this is not the correct way.
Thanks!
(Btw this is not a duplicate to this question: Convert String to StaticString)
I'm afraid it is a duplicate of Convert String to StaticString - there isn't a mechanism to convert to a static string during the execution of your program, as the whole purpose of static string is to have a string that's fully defined at compile time.
If you want to use a static string, you need to define it entirely up front in your code as a StaticString:
let staticString = "Hello, World!"

Non-optional expression of type 'String' used in a check for optionals

I am getting this warning from Xcode Swift 5, here is my code I don't get what is wrong, I use this to remove any new line or tab at the end of my String (line)
My code:
let url: String = String(line.filter { !" \n\t\r".contains($0) })
UPDATE
I was doing it inside an if let and was using the type cast operator here is the solution and the rest of code and an example of the line value.
let line = " http://test.com/testing.php \n"
if let url: String = line.filter({!" \n\t\r".contains($0)}) as String?
{
//More action here
}
Thank you
to me this line looks good, but you may be missing the parentheses for the string filter method. Here's two ways I did it in playground. Let me know if this works for you, or how I can help further.
var line = "\t Hello, line removal \n \t Another new line \n"
let filteredClosure = line.filter { (char) -> Bool in
return !"\n\t\r".contains(char)
}
let filterShorthand = line.filter({!"\n\t\r".contains($0)})
With the line you provided, I would expect white-space to be removed too. If that's what you're looking for, add a space inside the filter string: " \n\t\r"

Swift: Precedence for custom operator in relation to dot (".") literal

In Swift 3, I have written a custom operator prefix operator § which I use in a method taking a String as value returning a LocalizedString struct (holding key and value).
public prefix func §(key: String) -> LocalizedString {
return LocalizedString(key: key)
}
public struct LocalizedString {
public var key: String
public var value: String
public init(key: String) {
let translated = translate(using: key) // assume we have this
self.key = key
self.value = translated ?? "!!\(key)!!"
}
}
(Yes I know about the awesome L10n enum in SwiftGen, but we are downloading our strings from our backend, and this question is more about how to work with custom operators)
But what if we wanna get the translated value from the result of the § operator (i.e. the property value from the resulting LocalizedString)
let translation = §"MyKey".value // Compile error "Value of type 'String' has no member 'value'"
We can of course easily fix this compile error by wraping it in parenthesis (§"MyKey").value. But if do not want to do that. Is it possible to set precedence for custom operators in relationship to the 'dot' literal?
Yes I know that only infix operators may declare precedence, but it would make sense to somehow work with precedence in order to achieve what I want:
precedencegroup Localization { higherThan: DotPrecedence } // There is no such group as "Dot"
prefix operator §: Localization
To mark that the Swift compiler first should evaluate §"MyKey" and understand that is not a string, but in fact an LocalizedString (struct).
Feels unlikely that this would be impossible? What am I missing?
The . is not an operator like all the other ones defined in the standard library, it is provided by the compiler instead. The grammar for it are Explicit Member Expressions.
Having a higher precedence than the . is nothing the compiler should enable you to do, as it's such a fundamental use case. Imagine what you could do if the compiler enabled such a thing:
-"Test".characters.count
If you could have a higher precedence than ., the compiler has to check all possibilities:
(-"Test").characters.count // func -(s: String) -> String
(-("Test".characters)).count // func -(s: String.CharacterView) -> String.CharacterView
-("Test".characters.count) // func -(s: Int) -> Int
Which would
Potentially increase the compile time a lot
Be ambiguous
Possibly change behaviour of existing code upon adding overloads
What I suggest you to do is abandon the idea with a new operator, it's only going to be adding more cognitive load by squashing some specific behaviour into a single obscure character. This is how I'd do it:
extension String {
var translatedString : String {
return translate(using: self)
}
}
"MyKey".localizedString
Or if you want to use your LocalizedString:
extension String {
var localized : LocalizedString {
return LocalizedString(key: self)
}
}
"MyKey".localized.value
These versions are much more comprehensive.

Cannot invoke "Append" with Argument list of type '(String)'

I'm working with extensions in Swift, and have created an extension for String as follows:
extension String
{
func reverse() -> String
{
let chars = Array(arrayLiteral: self).reverse()
var reversed = ""
for char in chars
{
reversed.append(char)
}
return reversed
}
}
name = "Faisal Syed"
name.reverse()
on the line that says
reversed.append(char)
I get an error saying that I can't invoke "append" with an argument list of type String.
How do I work around this?

Formatting strings in Swift

In some languages, like C# for example, you can create a string in the following way:
"String {0} formatted {1} "
And then format it with String.format by passing in the values to format.
The above declaration is good, because you don't have to know of what type its parameters are when you create the string.
I tried to find similar approach in Swift, but what I found out was something like the following format:
"String %d formatted %d"
which requires you to format the string with String(format: , parameters). This is not good because you would also have to know parameter types when declaring the string.
Is there a similar approach in Swift where I wouldn't have to know the parameter types?
Use this one:
let printfOutput = String(format:"%# %2.2d", "string", 2)
It's the same as printf or the Obj-C formatting.
You can also mix it in this way:
let parm = "string"
let printfOutput = String(format:"\(parm) %2.2d", 2)
Edit: Thanks to MartinR (he knows it all ;-)
Be careful when mixing string interpolation and formatting. String(format:"\(parm) %2.2d", 2) will crash if parm contains a percent character. In (Objective-)C, the clang compiler will warn you if a format string is not a string literal.
This gives some room for hacking:
let format = "%#"
let data = "String"
let s = String(format: "\(format)", data) // prints "String"
In contrast to Obj-C which parses the format string at compile time, Swift does not do that and just interprets it at runtime.
In Swift, types need to conform to the CustomStringConvertible protocol in order to be used inside strings. This is also a requirement for the types used in string interpolation like this:
"Integer value \(intVal) and double value \(doubleVal)"
When you understand the CustomStringConvertible, you can create your own function to fulfill your needs. The following function formats the string based on the given arguments and prints it. It uses {} as a placeholder for the argument, but you can change it to anything you want.
func printWithArgs(string: String, argumentPlaceHolder: String = "{}", args: CustomStringConvertible...) {
var formattedString = string
// Get the index of the first argument placeholder
var nextPlaceholderIndex = string.range(of: argumentPlaceHolder)
// Index of the next argument to use
var nextArgIndex = 0
// Keep replacing the next placeholder as long as there's more placeholders and more unused arguments
while nextPlaceholderIndex != nil && nextArgIndex < args.count {
// Replace the argument placeholder with the argument
formattedString = formattedString.replacingOccurrences(of: argumentPlaceHolder, with: args[nextArgIndex].description, options: .caseInsensitive, range: nextPlaceholderIndex)
// Get the next argument placeholder index
nextPlaceholderIndex = formattedString.range(of: argumentPlaceHolder)
nextArgIndex += 1
}
print(formattedString)
}
printWithArgs(string: "First arg: {}, second arg: {}, third arg: {}", args: "foo", 4.12, 100)
// Prints: First arg: foo, second arg: 4.12, third arg: 100
Using a custom implementation allows you to have more control over it and tweak its behavior. For example, if you wanted to, you could modify this code to display the same argument multiple times using placeholders like {1} and {2}, you could fill the arguments in a reversed order, etc.
For more information about string interpolation in Swift: https://docs.swift.org/swift-book/LanguageGuide/StringsAndCharacters.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014097-CH7-ID292

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