Exact file format specs for text files synced from Google Play?

[eighthave]

Question Checklist

• I read the Contribution Guidelines
• I read docs.fastlane.tools
• I searched for existing GitHub issues

Question Subject

Weblate has implemented support for the native Fastlane text files so the can be easily translated. Weblate is based on git repos, so whitespace changes can cause merge conflicts and unnecessary noise. So it is important to minimize whitespace changes as much as possible for a smooth, automated workflow. Towards that end, we'd like to know more about how Fastlane handles the text files so that Weblate does the same thing. Is there a canonical format for title.txt, summary.txt, etc. regarding leading and trailing spaces? Does fastlane write out title.txt, summary.txt, etc. based on the data from Google Play without modifying it? Does anyone know if submitting to Google Play, then fetching from Google Play will strip whitespace?

For more info:
WeblateOrg/weblate#1525 (comment)
@janpio @nijel

[janpio]

Data is downloaded here:

fastlane/deliver/lib/deliver/setup.rb

Lines 43 to 45 in 39e3f9b

	v = options[:app].latest_version
	metadata_path = options[:metadata_path] || File.join(deliver_path, 'metadata')
	generate_metadata_files(v, metadata_path)

And then written to files here:

fastlane/deliver/lib/deliver/setup.rb

Lines 59 to 128 in 39e3f9b

	def generate_metadata_files(v, path)
	app_details = v.application.details
	# All the localised metadata
	(UploadMetadata::LOCALISED_VERSION_VALUES + UploadMetadata::LOCALISED_APP_VALUES).each do |key|
	v.description.languages.each do |language|
	if UploadMetadata::LOCALISED_VERSION_VALUES.include?(key)
	content = v.send(key)[language].to_s
	else
	content = app_details.send(key)[language].to_s
	end
	content << "\n"
	resulting_path = File.join(path, language, "#{key}.txt")
	FileUtils.mkdir_p(File.expand_path('..', resulting_path))
	File.write(resulting_path, content)
	UI.message("Writing to '#{resulting_path}'")
	end
	end
	# All non-localised metadata
	(UploadMetadata::NON_LOCALISED_VERSION_VALUES + UploadMetadata::NON_LOCALISED_APP_VALUES).each do |key|
	if UploadMetadata::NON_LOCALISED_VERSION_VALUES.include?(key)
	content = v.send(key).to_s
	else
	content = app_details.send(key).to_s
	end
	content << "\n"
	resulting_path = File.join(path, "#{key}.txt")
	File.write(resulting_path, content)
	UI.message("Writing to '#{resulting_path}'")
	end
	# Trade Representative Contact Information
	UploadMetadata::TRADE_REPRESENTATIVE_CONTACT_INFORMATION_VALUES.each do |key, option_name|
	content = v.send(key).to_s
	content << "\n"
	base_dir = File.join(path, UploadMetadata::TRADE_REPRESENTATIVE_CONTACT_INFORMATION_DIR)
	FileUtils.mkdir_p(base_dir)
	resulting_path = File.join(base_dir, "#{option_name}.txt")
	File.write(resulting_path, content)
	UI.message("Writing to '#{resulting_path}'")
	end
	# Review information
	UploadMetadata::REVIEW_INFORMATION_VALUES.each do |key, option_name|
	content = v.send(key).to_s
	content << "\n"
	base_dir = File.join(path, UploadMetadata::REVIEW_INFORMATION_DIR)
	FileUtils.mkdir_p(base_dir)
	resulting_path = File.join(base_dir, "#{option_name}.txt")
	File.write(resulting_path, content)
	UI.message("Writing to '#{resulting_path}'")
	end
	UI.success("Successfully created new configuration files.")
	# get App icon + watch icon
	if v.large_app_icon.asset_token
	app_icon_extension = File.extname(v.large_app_icon.url)
	app_icon_path = File.join(path, "app_icon#{app_icon_extension}")
	File.write(app_icon_path, open(v.large_app_icon.url).read)
	UI.success("Successfully downloaded large app icon")
	end
	if v.watch_app_icon.asset_token
	watch_app_icon_extension = File.extname(v.watch_app_icon.url)
	watch_icon_path = File.join(path, "watch_icon#{watch_app_icon_extension}")
	File.write(watch_icon_path, open(v.watch_app_icon.url).read)
	UI.success("Successfully downloaded watch icon")
	end
	end

Lets focus on one specific example:

fastlane/deliver/lib/deliver/setup.rb

Lines 65 to 73 in 39e3f9b

	if UploadMetadata::LOCALISED_VERSION_VALUES.include?(key)
	content = v.send(key)[language].to_s
	else
	content = app_details.send(key)[language].to_s
	end
	content << "\n"
	resulting_path = File.join(path, language, "#{key}.txt")
	FileUtils.mkdir_p(File.expand_path('..', resulting_path))
	File.write(resulting_path, content)

First it gets the data. Then it adds a \n at the end, and writes the result to the file.

So my guess: The API returns a trimmed string, fastlane/deliver adds the last line break before writing to the file (Linux style).

You should be able to confirm by testing this with your own apps. Best also try to add a few empty lines at the description for example - my guess is that Google strips those when saving anyway so the API always returns trimmed values.

[fastlane-bot]

There hasn't been any activity on this issue recently. Due to the high number of incoming GitHub notifications, we have to clean some of the old issues, as many of them have already been resolved with the latest updates.

Please make sure to update to the latest fastlane version and check if that solves the issue. Let us know if that works for you by adding a comment 👍

[fastlane-bot]

This issue will be auto-closed because there hasn't been any activity for a few months. Feel free to open a new one if you still experience this problem 👍