Android Translation Sync

Android Translation Sync

Synchronize Android project multilingual resources from Excel spreadsheet. Update strings.xml files for ALL languages including English. Write generated keys to Excel first column.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "sync translations from excel"
• "update android strings from excel"
• "多语言翻译同步"
• "更新strings.xml"
• "android translation sync"

Usage

Provide the Excel file path:

Please update translations from: /path/to/translations.xlsx

Process

1. Read Excel Spreadsheet

• Parse the Excel file provided
• First row contains language headers
• First column: "key" (generated key for each translation)
• Second column: "English" (source language)
• Following columns: target languages (zh, es, fr, etc.)

Excel format example:

2. Generate Keys for English Text

Key generation logic:

Key generation rules:

• Length: 10-20 characters
• Based on English text meaning
• Format: lowercase_with_underscores
• Must not conflict with existing keys in strings.xml

Examples:

• "Sign In" → "sign_in_button"
• "Welcome to our app" → "welcome_message"
• "Settings" → "settings_title"

3. Write Keys to Excel First Column

For each row:

If first column (key) is empty:
    Generate key from English text
    Write key to first column
Else:
    Use existing key from first column

Excel after processing:

4. Update strings.xml Files

CRITICAL: Precise Value Replacement Only

RULE: Replace ONLY the text content between <string> and </string> tags.

ABSOLUTE RULES:

• ✅ Find <string name="xxx">existing_value</string>
• ✅ Replace ONLY existing_value with new value
• ✅ Result: <string name="xxx">new_value</string>
• ❌ DO NOT add any new lines
• ❌ DO NOT remove any existing lines
• ❌ DO NOT modify anything else

Preserve EVERYTHING:

Example - EXACT replacement only:

<!-- BEFORE -->
<string name="skip">Skip</string>

<string name="quit">Quit</string>

<!-- AFTER - ONLY value changed, nothing else -->
<string name="skip">تخطى</string>

<string name="quit">خروج</string>

WRONG - Don't do this (adds extra empty lines):

<string name="skip">تخطى</string>



<string name="quit">خروج</string>

CORRECT - Exactly as original, only value changed:

<string name="skip">تخطى</string>

<string name="quit">خروج</string>

Preserve comments example:

<!-- Keep this exactly as is -->
    <!--2018.12.27-->
    <string name="discount_percent" translatable="false">%1$d%%</string>

    <!-- 新文案 20181228 -->
    <string name="register_go">انتقل</string>

<!-- Only update values, comments stay in place -->

How to update - Step by step:

1. Read the exact line: <string name="key">OLD_VALUE</string>
2. Replace ONLY the value: <string name="key">NEW_VALUE</string>
3. Keep the line structure identical
4. Keep surrounding lines identical

File locations:

• app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml (English)
• app/src/main/res/values-zh/strings.xml (Chinese)
• app/src/main/res/values-es/strings.xml (Spanish)
• etc.

Update rules:

All languages synchronized from Excel:

• English column → values/strings.xml
• zh column → values-zh/strings.xml
• es column → values-es/strings.xml

Example Workflow

# Step 1: User provides Excel path
Please sync translations from: ./translations/strings_v1.2.xlsx

# Step 2: Excel BEFORE processing (key column empty):
| key | English              | zh           | es         |
|-----|----------------------|--------------|------------|
|     | Sign In              | 登录         | Iniciar    |
|     | Welcome to our app   | 欢迎使用     | Bienvenido |
|     | Settings             | 设置         | Configura  |

# Step 3: Skill processes:
# 1. Read Excel
# 2. Check if key column is empty
# 3. Generate keys for empty rows
# 4. Write keys to Excel first column
# 5. Update all strings.xml files

# Step 4: Excel AFTER processing (keys generated):
| key              | English              | zh           | es         |
|------------------|----------------------|--------------|------------|
| sign_in_button   | Sign In              | 登录         | Iniciar    |
| welcome_message  | Welcome to our app   | 欢迎使用     | Bienvenido |
| settings_title   | Settings             | 设置         | Configura  |

# Step 5: strings.xml updated:
# values/strings.xml       <- English column
# values-zh/strings.xml    <- zh column
# values-es/strings.xml    <- es column

Output Summary

After processing, the skill reports:

Translation Sync Summary:
- Excel file: translations.xlsx
- Total rows: 45
- Keys generated: 12 (written to Excel)
- Keys existed: 28 (kept from Excel)
- New keys added to strings.xml: 12
- Updated keys in strings.xml: 28

Excel updated: /path/to/translations.xlsx
Files updated:
- values/strings.xml       (+12 new, -28 updated)
- values-zh/strings.xml    (+12 new, -28 updated)
- values-es/strings.xml    (+12 new, -28 updated)

Key Generation Strategy

1. Check Excel first column

   • If empty → generate new key
   • If has value → use existing key

2. Analyze English text meaning

   • Identify if it's a button, label, message, title
   • Extract key concepts

3. Generate candidate key

   • Convert to lowercase
   • Replace spaces with underscores
   • Remove special characters
   • Add suffix (button, title, message, label)

4. Validate uniqueness

   • Check against existing keys in values/strings.xml
   • Check against other keys in Excel
   • Append number if conflict exists

Supported Excel Formats

• .xlsx (Excel 2007+)
• .xls (Excel 97-2003)

Required columns:

• First column: "key" (will be generated if empty)
• Second column: "English" (source language)
• Following columns: target languages (zh, es, fr, de, ja, etc.)

Important Notes

1. PRECISE VALUE REPLACEMENT ONLY

   • Replace ONLY the content between <string> and </string> tags
   • DO NOT add any new lines
   • DO NOT remove any existing lines
   • Every original line must remain unchanged except the value content

2. Preserve EVERYTHING

   • All empty lines (don't add or remove)
   • All comments (keep exactly as is)
   • All formatting and indentation

3. Excel is modified - Keys are written to first column

4. Key preservation - If key exists in Excel, it won't be regenerated

5. English is updated - values/strings.xml is synced from Excel English column

6. All languages synced - Every language column updates its corresponding strings.xml

7. Excel is source of truth - All strings.xml files are updated from Excel

Code Pattern

# Process Excel and sync translations
def sync_translations(excel_file, existing_keys):
    for row in excel_file:
        # Check if key column is empty
        if row['key'].empty():
            # Generate key from English text
            english_text = row['English']
            key = generate_key(english_text, existing_keys)
            # Write key to Excel first column
            row['key'] = key
        else:
            # Use existing key from Excel
            key = row['key']

        # Update ALL language files from Excel columns
        update_strings_xml('values/strings.xml', key, row['English'])
        update_strings_xml('values-zh/strings.xml', key, row['zh'])
        update_strings_xml('values-es/strings.xml', key, row['es'])

    # Save updated Excel file
    excel_file.save()

Android Project Structure

app/src/main/res/
├── values/
│   └── strings.xml        # English - Updated from Excel English column
├── values-zh/
│   └── strings.xml        # Chinese - Updated from Excel zh column
├── values-es/
│   └── strings.xml        # Spanish - Updated from Excel es column
├── values-fr/
│   └── strings.xml        # French - Updated from Excel fr column
└── ...