Consolidate PO and Xliff Files

Used to manage translation files required by a web app using .po files and an iOS app using .xliff files, consolidating them into one set of files.

For our application, we are using FastGetText[https://github.com/grosser/fast_gettext] with Rails, and then Pootle with the Git FileSystem extension to do the translations.

Neat Features

This gem will:

• combine the .po and .xliff files ready for translation
• eliminate duplicate phrases in both apps
• deal with phrases ending in common endings like : ... or identical upper and lower case phrases
• count the number of phrases and words where there is outstanding work
• group phrases based on priority keywords to help the translators
• extract back using the original .po and .xliff file structure, putting the result in a different directory
• look out for phrases with variables inside them and warn if the token has accidentally been translated by the translator (like %{count} or %count% or %@)
• skips phrases you don't want translated - sometimes Xcode extracts phrases automatically that you just don't want translating
• on extraction, can skip warning messages where you have previously identified the message is OK (e.g. where the translation is identical in both languages)

Setup

Add the following to your Gemfile:

gem 'po_and_xliff_consolidator'

Then bundle install

Translation Process

File Management

I strongly recommend you create a new, private Git repository called say myapp-i18n. This makes sure you can keep track on what's changed, and revert if things go wrong.

It should have a folder structure

combine.rb
extract.rb
/combined
/web-app/need-translating
/web-app/translated
/xliff/need-translating
/xliff/translated

Web App Export

• in Rails, we are assuming you are using fastgettext, and your app is called 'myapp'
• create a web app branch, say translations-2017-01-16
• run rake gettext:find
• this will create files called myapp.po in folders /de /it etc in /config/locales
• copy files in myapp-web folder /config/locales into your new myapp-i18n repository /web-app/need-translating/locales
• you can just dump everything in there, including .edit.po and .timestamp files, although these aren't used.

iPad App Export

• create an iPad app branch, say translations-2017-01-16
• In the Project Navigator, go to the root of the app
• Click on the 'Project'
• Select Editor..Export for Localization
• Save in /xliff with the name need-translating
• It should say need-translating already exists - overwrite? Say Yes
• Include existing translations
• This will create files named e.g. de.xliff in this folder

Consolidation

First, commit myapp-i18n with Github

Create a file like this in the root directory of your myapp-i18n repository:

combine.rb

require 'po_and_xliff_consolidator'

# Specify priority keywords - any phrases with these keywords in will be grouped together to help the translator
PoAndXliffConsolidator::TranslateUnit.class_variable_set(:@@priorities, 
    ['review template','review','task','store','photo','document','deadline'])

c = PoAndXliffConsolidator::Combine.new
c.root_file_path = __dir__
c.app_name = 'myapp' # whatever your .po files are called
c.skip_strings=['','*', '$(PRODUCT_NAME)', 'PPT','PDF']
c.skip_regexes = [/^\d+$/,/^\d+\.\d+$/,/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/] # 1, 1.1, 1.1.1
# You can use the default logger or specify your own logger
# You can set the logger level if you want, but start with this commented out!
# c.logger.level = Logger::INFO

# We use an array for Chinese, because the .po and .xliff files are named differently
# .po first, .xliff second
languages = [
    'de', 'es', ['zh_CN', 'zh-Hans']
]

languages.each do |lang|
  c.process(lang)
end

• On command line, run this combine program
• This will consolidate files into the combined folder with GNU friendly names ar.po, de.po, etc
• Commit changes to Github

Translation

• Send the consolidated files out to be translated - we run a private Pootle server with pootle_fs_git installed, but I guess you could use Google Translation tools or something else.
• Get the translations back! And paste them back into the combined folder
• Check the translations! (don't pay for them until you've tried extracting)

Extraction

Sync myapp-i18n with Github

Create a file like this in the root directory of your myapp-i18n repository:

extract.rb

require 'po_and_xliff_consolidator'

c = PoAndXliffConsolidator::Extract.new
c.root_file_path = __dir__
c.app_name = 'myapp' # whatever your .po files are called
c.skip_strings=['','*', '$(PRODUCT_NAME)', 'PPT','PDF']
c.skip_regexes = [/^\d+$/,/^\d+\.\d+$/,/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/] # 1, 1.1, 1.1.1
#
# c.reset_identical_msgid_and_msgstr = true
#
# c.logger.level = Logger::WARN
# c.logger.formatter = proc do |severity, datetime, progname, msg|
#  "#{severity}: #{msg}\n"
# end
#
# messages_to_skip = YAML.load_file('messages_to_skip.yml')
# c.logger.skip(messages_to_skip)
#

languages = [
    'de', 'es', ['zh_CN', 'zh-Hans']
]

languages.each do |lang|
  c.process(lang)
end
#
# puts c.logger.messages.to_yaml

• On command line under the myapp-i18n folder, run the extract program
• Fix any glitches you can in the newly translated files, e.g. variable names %{count} etc
• Check for any warnings and send these back to the translation company if necessary
• This will extract files in the combined folder to the /xliff/translated and /web-app/need-translating/locales
• Check and commit changes to Github
• If you have changed any of the 'combined' files, and you're using pootle, do a pootle fs sync myapp again

Web App Import

• Switch to master branch of myapp-web and make sure it is up to date
• Switch to your Github branch again, say translations-2017-01-16
• Merge master into the branch
• copy files in myapp-web folder /web-app/need-translating/locales into /config

For example:

cd ~/..path_to../myapp-web
git checkout master
git pull
git checkout translations
git merge master
git push
cp -Rv ~/..path_to../myapp-i18n/web-app/translated/locales ~/..path_to../myapp-web/config
git status
git commit -m "Update translations"
git push

iPad App Import

• Make sure you are on the correct Github branch again, say translations-2017-01-16
• In the Project Navigator, go to the root of the app 'MyApp Enterprise'
• Click on the 'Project' MyApp Enterprise
• Select Editor..Import Localizations
• Pick in /xliff/translated
• Repeat for each language

Enjoy and good luck!