Cross Platform Localization Strategies

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Twitter: @loriblalonde

Email: loriblalonde@gmail.com

Blog: solola.ca

Web: westerndevs.com

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Appeal to a Broader Market

Shared App Logic in C#

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Shared App Logic in C#

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Xamarin Android String Resources

Strings stored in XML file(s) in values directory

Place XML files in values directory for each supported language code

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Xamarin Android Image Resources

Images with text should be localized

Set Image BuildAction as AndroidResource

Place localized images in drawabledirectory for each supported language code and device resolution

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Xamarin.Android: Accessing Resources

In layout file:Strings - @string/[id]

Images - @drawable/[id]

In code: textView.Text = Resources.GetString(Resource.String.greeting);

imageView.SetImageResource(Resource.Drawable.stopsign);

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Xamarin iOS String Resources

Shared App Logic in C#

Strings stored in .strings files in .lprojdirectories

Base.lproj – default language

<languagecode>.lproj directory –supported language

.strings file format: “key” = “value”;

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Xamarin iOS Image Resources

Shared App Logic in C#

Place localized images in respective .lproj directories

Set Image BuildAction as BundleResource

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Xamarin.iOS: Accessing Resources

//app display namevar title = NSBundle.MainBundle

.ObjectForInfoDictionary("CFBundleDisplayName"); AppTitleLabel.Text = title.ToString();

//how to get the localized string in codeHelloLabel.Text = NSBundle.MainBundle.LocalizedString("hello", "comment");

//how to get localized image in codeStopImage.Image = UIImage.FromBundle("stopsign");

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Escape Characters

Shared App Logic in C#

Android and iOS string resources must use the following escape characters:

\" quote

\\ backslash

\n newline

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Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Resources

Resource file (.resw) localization

Compiled into the application package

Place resource files in named directory for each supported language code

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Resw File Structure

Shared App Logic in C#

Name/Value pair. Optionally append a qualifier on key.

Qualifier represents the element property that will be set to the resource value

UWP supports translations for app display name and description

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UWP: Accessing Resources

Shared App Logic in C#

In layout file:

Strings – set x:Uid of element to resource

Images – set source to path of default image

In code: var resourceLoader = new Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.ResourceLoader();string res = resourceLoader.GetString("DisplayName");

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Localizing Application Metadata

Shared App Logic in C#

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Drawbacks

Shared App Logic in C#

Maintain separate set of resource files for each platform

Platform-specific code needed to access localized resources

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Leverage .NET Localization

Create a Portable Class Library that will contain the resource (.resx) files

Leverage ResourceManager to load the strings

Create a Translation Helper class to retrieve translations by language and key

Use Reflection to retrieve handle to Assembly

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Resx File Structure

Shared App Logic in C#

Name/Value pair

Reference in code using ResourceManager

Can leverage data binding to retrieve translation

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Supported across all platforms (iOS, Android, Windows)

Only 1 set of resource files to maintain

3rd party tools available such as ResX Manager, making it easy for translators to work with

Supported in Xamarin.Forms, with data binding support

Advantages

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Drawbacks

Shared App Logic in C#

Application name will not be localized

Workaround: include native strings file in each language for the application name only

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Download translations for the selected language from your own web service in JSON or XML format

Logic can be encapsulated in Portable Class Library

Deserialize result into a Translations collection (Key/Value pair) Use Reflection to retrieve handle to Assembly

Create a Translation Helper class to retrieve translations by language and key

Custom Web Service Provider

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Supported across all platforms

Only download the translation file that is needed

Supported in Xamarin.Forms

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Advantages

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Drawbacks

Shared App Logic in C#

Application name will not be localized

Dependent on network connectivity when switching languages

Difficult for translators to work with JSON

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General Considerations

Shared App Logic in C#

Design your app to support multiple languages

Never hardcode strings

Store strings in language resource files

Avoid string concatenation

Ensure your UI is flexible to adapt to variable string length

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Additional Resources

Shared App Logic in C#

Xamarin Localization Documentation

iOS: http://bitly.com/XamiOSLocalization

Android: http://bitly.com/XamAndLocalization

Xamarin.Forms: http://bitly.com/XamFormsLocalization

Twitter: @loriblalonde

Email: loriblalonde@gmail.com

Blog: solola.ca

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