Translating Qt applications

It does not have to be boring ;-)

09/12/09

Who is Benjamin Poulain at Nokia?

rst support engineer
Linux and Mac OS X

now Webkit developer pet projects

graphical tablet Cocoa support

What do I do after work?

some hacking
web applications

lots of sport: running, cycling, climbing

I am not so good on a snowboard

Why do I work on translations?

my family do not speak english
need for localized software

work on
tutorial in french translation of Qt Creator french community of Qt

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

Translations increase your user base

Everybody speaks English. right?
Native speaker Secondary

Do not understand English

writing an application is difficult spread it

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application
Simple application UI Source Integrate the translation

Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

Ugly Snake is a mini game in Qt

How do we translate the application?

Internationalization workow: 1) write code ready for translation 2) extract strings 3) translate 4) compile strings

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application
Simple application UI Source Integrate the translation

Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

The .ui les are the biggest part

most strings are in the .ui this is what is seen by the user good news: work out of the box - string extraction - translation

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application
Simple application UI Source Integrate the translation

Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

Translate the strings with tr()

QObject::tr() translate a string:
trayIcon.showMessage("new message", "you have too many mail");

trayIcon.showMessage(tr("new message"), tr("you have too many mail"));

works great with QString::arg():

QString::number(userCount) + "users online";

tr("%n user(s) online").arg(userCount);

Provide some context for short strings

What are 1, 2?
tr("The %1 is %2").arg(...);

Provide some context for short strings

What are 1, 2?
tr("The %1 is %2").arg(...);

3 ways to add context:

luck context in tr():
tr("The %1 is %2", "The <extension> is <state>").arg(...);

comment in code
//: The <extension> is <state> tr("The %1 is %2").arg(...);

How to mark strings for translations?

tr() returns QString QT_TR_NOOP marks for translation translated later with tr() example:
char *const EDITOR = QT_TR_NOOP("emacs");

void function() { (...) QString editor = tr(EDITOR); (...) }

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application
Simple application UI Source Integrate the translation

Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

Applications use a compiled version of the translation

lrelease compiles .ts in .qm .qm is the binary format for release fast lookup not into the binary

A translator must be installed

QTranslator - translate the strings - load the .qm le:
QTranslator uglySnakeTranslator; uglySnakeTranslator.load("uglysnake_" + QLocale::system().name(), QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath()); app.installTranslator(&uglySnakeTranslator);

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

There are two kinds of tools for translators

ofine Qt Linguist online Pootle, ...

Presentation of Linguist

Linguist is great but need to be distributed

support multiple languages (simultaneously) great integration with Qt integration with the UI les: errors are spoted imediately full context

but: need to be distributed

Presentation of Pootle

Pootle is great, but offer no integration

no need to distribute easier for amateur

but: no integration (ui les!)

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further
context tricky UI change the language pitfalls

Conclusion

One word, multiple concepts

noun

dition

edit

verb

diter

short text context

tr("edit", "verb"); tr("edit", "noun");

also in designer

Comments does not disambiguate the strings

works:
QString a = tr("edit", "N97"); QString b = tr("edit", "N900");

do not work
//: N97 QString a = tr("edit"); //: N900 QString b = tr("edit");

why?

Understanding context and disambiguation

source disambiguation

QPushButton::tr("edit", "verb");

context
QCoreApplication::translate("QPushButton", "edit", "verb"); QTranslator::translate("QPushButton", "edit", "verb");

context

source

disambiguation

result

QPushButton QPushButton

edit edit

verb

editer

Comments does not disambiguate the strings

works:
QString a = tr("edit", "N97"); QString b = tr("edit", "N900");

do not work:
//: N97 QString a = tr("edit"); //: N900 QString b = tr("edit");

solution:
//: N97 QString a = tr("edit", "phoneA"); //: N900 QString b = tr("edit", "phoneB");

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further
context tricky UI change the language pitfalls

Conclusion

The translation should t the widgets

the layouts adapt the widgets

problems: - xed size - phone screen

Some images need a translation

localize icons, images, etc qresource support locale:
<qresource lang="fr"> <file>burnIcon.png</file> </qresource>

What if you want multiple UI?

cultural conventions phone screens right to left interface Solution: QUiLoader to load the UI X difcult to maintain X difcult to document

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further
context tricky UI change the language pitfalls

Conclusion

What if the language is changed after the start?

examples: - phone - public terminal - MS Windows applications

Everything needs a new translation

LanguageChange event on ::installTranslator() QWidget::changeEvent() to catch the event UI responds to retranslateUI() manual update for the code
void SettingsPanel::changeEvent(QEvent *e) { if (e->type() == QEvent::LanguageChange) { ui->retranslateUi(this); updateSpeedDescription(); } QWidget::changeEvent(e); }

When to change the translators?

LocaleChange event to the active window install event lter on QApplication change the translators

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further
context tricky UI change the language pitfalls

Conclusion

Translate on painting is not a good strategy

char languageList[] = { QT_TR_NOOP("english"), QT_TR_NOOP("german") }; if (language == "english) { ... void paintEvent(QEvent *) { QString toShow = tr(m_language); ... }

list sorted alphabetically:

Solution: use classes for identity, not strings

The source might not be in Latin 1

tr() uses Latin 1 by default
tr("Qt est gnial"); // might fail

Solution 1: use English for the source Solution 2: - QTextCodec::setCodecForTr() - CODECFORTR = UTF-8

Mac uses an ordered list of language

Mac OS X - ordered list of languages language selection:
Not accurate

QTranslator uglySnakeTranslator; uglySnakeTranslator.load("uglysnake_" + QLocale::system().name(), QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath()); app.installTranslator(&uglySnakeTranslator);

Solution: iterate over the languages of core foundation

What are we gonna do today?

Why bother? Translating your application Tools for translators Going further Conclusion

Qt makes translation easy

Internationalization is important Qt already solves the problems Minimal changes are needed in the code
tr() every string provide context for short strings

think about it when you develop