I have an application in the App Store with the string files localized. The thing is I want to submit an update with the string files only in english,but when I install the app from xcode(only with the string files in english) in a device that has already the application installed(from the App Store) I can see the strings in other languages than english.
If I install the app in a device without the application already installed I can only see the strings in english,regardless the selected language on the device.
I know one option is to change the name of the string files,but I was wondering if there is a smarter way of doing this.
Thanks a lot
The problem is likely that your old localised.strings file is still hanging around in a different location. When you add or change languages using localisation, the strings file may be moved to a different folder. When the delta update occurs it obtains the new strings file, but fails to delete the old one because it's in a different location. However that location is higher up the search tree, and so gets found first when the app looks for a string.
One potential solution, though not a nice one, is to rename your localized.strings file to something different, then use the localizedStringFromTable command in all places you previously used localizedString, naming your new file as the table of origin. It's not a pretty fix, but it should work.
Another potential solution if you only need one language is to ensure that the strings file is stored in exactly the same bundle location as the one in the previous version.
I solved the problem with this line in the file main.m, right before calling to UIApplicationMain():
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:[NSArray arrayWithObject:#"en"] forKey:#"AppleLanguages"];
Basically it forces the app to be available in English only.
Related
I want to be able to update localized strings by code from the app. What I actually want to do is to make changes to the localization on a server and then let the iPhone application fetch updated localization strings from a server and then save them to the localizable.strings file.
You can't ! Those files are part of the bundle and can't be updated. You will have to setup the whole translation framework by yourself (which is not that much work) and implement caching using either core data or serialized dictionaries (one for each language I suppose).
You won't be able to modify the Localizable.strings file in your app bundle because the app bundle is read-only on iOS devices. To grab localized strings from a strings file in your app's Library directory, you could programmatically create a bundle at that location, put a Localizable.strings file in it and then grab the localized strings with NSLocalizedStringFromTableInBundle(). (I haven't tried this but it should work.)
There's service (Get Localization) that allows you to upload those .strings files to server and fetch them via API. However there's no client for iPhone yet but it would be quite simple to do. You can contribute one or then wait that there's official available.
I have developed a hybrid mobile app that has been running on IOS, Android and Chrome reasonably well for over 5 years. My app uses an indexedDB database to maintain the state of the app and save it between restarts, however there are some cases where IOS can clear the indexedDB particularly if the client device is running low on memory.
I would like some help on how to maintain a parallel copy of the indexedDB using the native SQL database on the IOS device, in order to increase the resilience of my app, based on the hopeful expectation that IOS will not arbitrarily decide to clear an internal SQL database belonging to the app.
I understand how to communicate in both directions between Objective C and Javascript but I have not the foggiest idea in Objective C how to:
Create a SQL database in the app file system
Choose where to place the SQL database in the app file system
How to write a new key value pair to the database
Overwrite an existing key value pair in the database
Read back all key value pairs from the database (I expect there could be up to 1000 of these in practice) and pass these efficiently back to the javascript code.
Clear the database and start again.
Any pointers to useful resources on how to achieve this or better still coded examples would be most appreciated.
I would just like to add that I am not using Cordova or any other similar app development environment, so please do not suggest a SQLite plugin that is part of a bigger environment. I have got to where I am with a bespoke coding approach and I would like to keep it that way.
I have explored the idea of paralleling up each indexedDB save with a write to a file in the IOS App Documents Folder with the hope that this is less likely to be wiped than the Caches Folder.
Following each indexedDB setItem with a key-value-pair I pass a request to the objective-C IOS app code to create a text file in a sub folder created with the App Documents Folder, with the name 'key'.txt and the contents set to value.
Following each indexedDB removeItem, I pass a request to the objective-C IOS app code to delete the corresponding text file 'key'.txt.
Following each indexedDB clearAll, I delete the entire sub folder created above.
Now when the app starts up and discovers an empty localForage database, I pass a request to the objective-C IOS app code to test if the sub-folder with key-items is there or not.
If it is not, then this is a fresh install of the app and continue as normal for such a case.
if it is, then this is a case of the indexedDB database having been deleted.
In such case, I request the objective-C IOS app code to return the set of keys, by examining the contents of the folder created above and stripping off the .txt bit and in the case of the IOS Simulator ignoring the DS_Store file.
One by one I then request the contents of each key file and load them back into the previously empty localForage database and when this has been done I can continue as if it had not been deleted.
I found that it is necessary to use a zero duration timeout in the javascript before requesting each value to prevent call stack exceeded errors when restoring large databases.
This approach seems to work and I can test this any time by using the Safari Developer Resources tab actions to clear the database and then manually restarting the app. Using the same tab you can watch the indexedDB database being repopulated.
Due to the size of my database, I actually created a set of sub folders of different types of key, so that I could choose the order in which the database items were restored, especially as my app is often brought back to life in the background following a significant location change and in such cases there is an imposed maximum time limit on how long the app is given to do such a recovery. This refinement is of course optional and only needed for large databases.
The following notes are for anyone who wants to try this approach and assumes using Objective C in XCode 10.1
Use NSHomeDirectory() and stringByAppendingPathComponent #"Documents" to get the Documents folder.
Use stringByAppendingPathComponent to create a sub folder path for the keys sub folder.
Use fileExistsAtPath to check whether the keys sub folder exists already
Use createDirectoryAtPath if it does not.
When saving or changing items in indexedDB use the stringByAppendingPathComponent to create the key file name path e.g. Base.txt for a key of 'Base'.
Use fileHandleforWritingAtPath to get the fileHandle for a file
if fileHandle does not exist then need to create it using writeToFile to create the 'key' file
if fileHandle does exist then truncateFileAtOffseyt:0 (important) to clear it and then use writeData to create a new version of the 'key' file.
In both of the above specify UTF8 encoding.
When removing items from indexedDB do the same to get the key file path and then use removeItemAtPath.
The device can be cleared by removing the entire sub folder using removeItemAtPath.
The restore process uses contentsOfDirectoryAtPath to read the set of keys in the sub folder.
The restore process for each item uses stringWithContentsOfFile to read data files and return the contents enclosed in quotes using a call to stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString
Hope this helps.
We're currently at the stage of looking at localising our app in to multiple languages now that the general concepts of the app have been decided. This is something I want to ensure is done correct from the start to lower the risk of headaches in the future.
The app targets iOS 7 and above, uses storyboards, and is written in Swift.
Storyboards
When working with a storyboard (or a xib), what's the best way to mark a UI element as "not to be translated"? For example, I have a placeholder string for a user's display name (Display Name), which will be replaced by a users display name at run time. This display name will not be localised, but neither should the string "Display Name". Is there a method of not having a UI element's value automatically put in to the strings file? If not, is going in to that file and manually removing strings I don't want localising a sustainable option?
Strings In Code
I'm using the Swift function NSLocalizedString with the key and comment parameters. Some places I've seen say to set the key to be a unique id based on the context (e.g., intro.login-button-text), while others seem to just put the full string in the default language (e.g., Login). I like the idea of the unique ids for the key, but would this not go against the idea of the "base" language?
Exporting
Xcode 6's "Export For Localization" option seems very useful for getting the correct format of file to be sent to translators. However, as mentioned previously, placeholder text does not need to be translated. Should these placeholders be removed from the exported xliff or the strings file prior to export?
Looking for the the same questions myself. Hope this will help you and others. Also I would recommend to have some kind of tool to organize the xliff/string files
Storyboards:
I've seen developers putting non translating texts in storyboard with extra parentheses. i.e. {Display name}.
By using this you can see by the translation itself if it needs to be translated or not. We use oneskyapp.com and can select to hide those translations and they will be hidden for each import of that key.
Strings in Code
By following this thread they suggest to use keywords.
Best practice for key values in translation files
Exporting
I cannot find a way to have some translations automatically removed when exporting. Off course you can put the views which has dynamic fields in different XIB/storyboards and decide not to translate those.
Again a tool like onskyapp.com can help you with this.
Formats
As of context with the field is important and a translation can be different when it is followed by i.e. a users name I would go for "%1$# is online!"
I'm attempting to make the values in a .plist Multi Value dynamic. Specifically, I want to download a list of options from a web site and populate the values with the returned data. I have read a couple of posts stating that changing the app bundle during runtime is impossible. Is it not possible to make the values refer to a data source outside the app bundle, for example if I put the alternatives in NSUserDefaults and read from there?
If this is totally out of the question, what alternatives are there?
What I do is copy the plist into a hidden folder in the documents directory and work with that copy
If the file does not exist, copy it entirely, and if it does, do some merging or overwrite completely, whatever fits your needs
Working with NSUserDefaults is also a possibility
Please note that I did ask this on Super User and received absolutely no responses, so I decided to port this to a programming community that knows a lot more about TextMate.
Working in Ruby on Rails in TextMate, when I select a chunk of text, let's say
My text
and then hit the open bracket [ key on my keyboard, TextMate wraps the selected block in opening and closing brackets, as such:
[My text]
I'd like to modify this behavior so it wraps it in an opening bracket, space, space, closing bracket, as such:
[ My text ]
(mind the spaces).
How would I go about modifying this behavior?
I don't mind modifying it only while working for Ruby on Rails (i.e. .rb, .html.erb file scope etc...) but I'd prefer it if it would take effect throughout the application.
Thank you!
Well i hope this is better than no answer. THe behaviour is controlled by a bundle. So you edit the respective bundle to get the behaviour you require.
Here is a quote "Some of the default items may not be to your exact liking, for example the coding style in snippets may differ from yours, so you may want other tab triggers, key equivalents, or similar modifications.
If you edit a default item the difference will be stored in ~/Library/Application Support/TextMate/Bundles. These are then merged with the default version so your changes will be effective even after upgrading TextMate. All new items you create also end up in this location.
Bundles or bundle items which you install by dragging them to TextMate or double clicking will be installed in ~/Library/Application Support/TextMate/Pristine Copy/Bundles. Editing these will also result in only the differences being stored in ~/Library/Application Support/TextMate/Bundles, meaning that if you later get a new version of this third party bundle, you can safely install this one on top of the old one (by dragging it to TextMate) and again your changes will be preserved.
If you want to discard local changes then currently the only option is to delete these from ~/Library/Application Support/TextMate/Bundles."
Fo more pointers go here. Hope this helps.