B4J Tutorial Localization Practices

I am trying to use B4XLocalizator to localize my B4J app ImageTrans from Chinese to English. I would like to share my practices with the forum and suggestions are appreciated.

1. Automatic localizable strings extraction

a. Use a form to load every layout, iterate all views and extract text

Sub ExportLayoutText(map1 As Map)
    Dim frm As Form
    frm.Initialize("frm",600,200)
    Dim assets As String
    assets=File.Combine(File.GetFileParent(File.DirApp),"Files")
    If File.Exists(assets,"")=False Then
        Return
    End If
    For Each filename As String In File.ListFiles(assets)
        If filename.ToLowerCase.EndsWith(".bjl") Then
            frm.RootPane.RemoveAllNodes
            frm.RootPane.LoadLayout(Utils.GetFilenameWithoutExtension(filename))
           
            If frm.Title<>"" Then
                Dim transUnit As Map
                transUnit.Initialize
                transUnit.Put("type","Form Title")
                transUnit.Put("note",filename)
                transUnit.Put("text",frm.Title)
                map1.Put(frm.Title.ToLowerCase,transUnit)
            End If
           
            For Each node As Object In frm.RootPane.GetAllViewsRecursive
                Dim transUnit As Map
                transUnit.Initialize
                transUnit.Put("type",GetType(node))
                transUnit.Put("note",filename)
                Dim n As Node=node
                If n Is TextArea Then
                    Dim ta As TextArea = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",ta.Text)
                Else If n Is TextField Then
                    Dim tf As TextField = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",tf.Text)
                Else if n Is Button Then
                    Dim btn As Button = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",btn.Text)
                Else if n Is CheckBox Then
                    Dim cbx As CheckBox = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",cbx.Text)
                Else If n Is RadioButton Then
                    Dim rbtn As RadioButton = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",rbtn.Text)
                Else If n Is ToggleButton Then
                    Dim tbtn As ToggleButton = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",tbtn.Text)
                Else If n Is Label Then
                    Dim lbl As Label = n
                    transUnit.Put("text",lbl.Text)
                else if n Is ListView Then
                    Dim lv As ListView = n
                    If lv.ContextMenu.IsInitialized Then
                        ExportMenuItems(lv.ContextMenu.MenuItems,transUnit,map1)
                    End If
                    Continue
                else if n Is MenuBar Then
                    Dim mb As MenuBar = n
                    ExportMenuItems(mb.Menus,transUnit,map1)
                    Continue
                else if n Is TableView Then
                    Dim tv As TableView=n
                    ExportTableViewColumns(tv,transUnit,map1)
                    Continue
                End If
                If transUnit.ContainsKey("text") Then
                    Dim text As String=transUnit.Get("text")
                    map1.Put(text.ToLowerCase,transUnit)
                End If
            Next
        End If
    Next
End Sub

b. Wrap text in code with Localize, LocalizeParams and LocalizeList methods (This process needs to be automated). Extract these in-code text.

result=fx.Msgbox2(MainForm,Main.loc.Localize("均衡含文字与无文字区域？"),"", _
                                   Main.loc.Localize("是"),"", _
                                   Main.loc.Localize("否"),fx.MSGBOX_CONFIRMATION)

Sub ExportInCodeString(map1 As Map)
    Dim projectDir As String = File.GetFileParent(File.DirApp)
    For Each filename As String In File.ListFiles(projectDir)
        If filename.EndsWith(".bas") Or filename.EndsWith(".b4j") Then
            Dim strings As List
            strings.Initialize
            Dim content As String = File.ReadString(projectDir,filename)
            Dim matcher1 As Matcher=Regex.Matcher($"\.Localize\("(.*?)"\)"$,content)
            Do While matcher1.Find
                strings.Add(matcher1.Group(1))
            Loop
            stringsToMap(strings,map1)
        End If
    Next
End Sub

c. Save the result to xlsx with control type and layout name as reference for translation

2. Translation with computer-aided translatoin tools like BasicCAT and OmegaT
3. Use B4XLocalizator to load translated strings.

I have enhanced the localizator to let it support tabpane, splitpane, context menu and table view column headers.

Code practice:

I use context menu text in select... case... expression. Instead of wrapping all the text in cases, I choose to convert the translation back to source text.

Select loc.FindSource(menu)
    Case "过滤过小项"
        tl.smallFilteredBoxes(boxesList)
    Case "过滤过大项"
        tl.oversizeFilteredBoxes(boxesList)
End Select

A big problem is that the English target text is ofter longer than the Chinese source text, text will be ellispis. I do not want to adjust control's size and font. I just add tooltips to these controls. I think a better solution is to use different layout files for different languages which need the abstract designer to add support.