Beginner
Add New Languages to Your Android Application
May 20, 2020
Created by
January 30, 2019
20 min.
See how the SAP Translation Hub can be used to quickly add support for a new language to your app.
You will learn
- An overview of how the generated app supports different languages
- How to sign up for the SAP Translation Hub
- How to use the SAP Translation Hub from within an Android Studio Project
Prerequisites
- You completed Try Out SAP Cloud Platform SDK for Android Wizard.
Step 1: Language Support in the Generated App
The wizard generates an Android app that contains translated strings for multiple languages as shown below.
The language codes (ar, cs, da, de, en, es, etc.) can be looked up at Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages.
Strings used within the app are read from the appropriate version of the strings_localized or strings.xml file. The strings.xml file contains strings that are provided at design time, such as the screen names from metadata.xml or the app name. Android Studio provides a Translations Editor that you can use to view the values across the localized strings files. Right-click on the strings.xml file and choose Open Translations Editor.
Notice in the screenshot below that the resources that are from the
strings.xmlfile, such as Suppliers, are not translated. These will get translated in Step 3.
The following code in the LogonActivity class, in the startLaunchScreen method, is an example of the code used to read from a strings file.
launchScreenSettings.setLaunchScreenHeadline(getString(R.string.welcome_screen_headline_label));
launchScreenHeadline = getString(R.string.welcome_screen_headline_label)
The getString method determines what the current local language is on the device or emulator and then reads from the matching strings file.
You can set the language on an Android device or emulator using Settings > System > Languages & input > Languages. A second language, such as French, can also be added.
Select the default language by long pressing on a language and dragging it to the top of the list.
When the app is restarted, it now shows strings in the preferred language if that language is supported by the app. If the language is not supported currently, strings will be in English by default.
For additional information, see:
Step 2: Sign Up for the SAP Translation Hub
The SAP Translation Hub enables translation of resources to specified languages. SAP Translation Hub is currently only available on Neo trial landscapes and not on SAP Cloud Foundry. You have to create a workaround to access SAP Translation Hub in your trial environment.
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Please open SAP Cloud Platform cockpit.
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Scroll down to Environment section and click Access Neo Trial to go to SAP Cloud Platform management cockpit page.
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In the SAP Cloud Platform management cockpit, enable SAP Translation Hub in Services.
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Click on the tile and then choose Go to UI for Translation Workflow. This navigates to Translation Hub service UI page.
Notice that there are no existing translation projects in the Translation Projects page. In the next section, you will use a wizard integrated into Android Studio to create a translation project and request new language files for Italian, which is not one of the languages the generated app already contains.
Note that the SAP Translation Hub wizard in the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for Android is currently not compatible with the SAP Translation Hub in the SAP Cloud Platform trial. You could/can press the + icon to create a new translation project, upload
strings_localized.xml, and request a translation. One of the benefits of this is that feedback is provided on the expected quality of the translation, as shown below.
Step 3: Add a new Language to Your Project
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Right-click on a file in the Project Explorer and choose Translate Resources with SAP Translation Hub.
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Fill in the necessary information:
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Account Name – (optional) To save your settings for reuse, provide a name for this profile and select the Save Account Information check box. This name is used to identify the profile in the Accounts List available from Accounts.
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URL – The URL of the Translation Hub service. You can obtain this URL from the SAP Translation Hub service cockpit. (Just enter your username in the SAP Translation Hub dialog).
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Username and Password – The credentials of your SAP Cloud Platform account.
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Click Next and choose Create New SAP Translation Hub project.
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Choose the Domain of the application, specify the source language as English, as well as the target language to add (in this case, Italian).
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Select the two source files to be used for the translation.
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Press Finish and wait for a few moments. The Event Log should print
Success: Project translated successfully.There should now be two additional files,
strings_localized_it.xmlandstrings_it.xml.
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In the emulator or device, set the preferred language to be Italian, then run the app and notice that the app now displays Italian strings.
Some of the strings in the app are part of the foundation or Fiori library and their strings are not easily accessible to be localized. A couple of examples are the basic authentication screen and the passcode screen.
For further information on this feature, see SAP Translation Hub.
Congratulations! You have learned how to use the SAP Translation Hub to quickly add translations to your application!