/**************************************************************************** ** ** Copyright (C) 2013 Digia Plc and/or its subsidiary(-ies). ** Contact: http://www.qt-project.org/legal ** ** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit. ** ** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$ ** Commercial License Usage ** Licensees holding valid commercial Qt licenses may use this file in ** accordance with the commercial license agreement provided with the ** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in ** a written agreement between you and Digia. For licensing terms and ** conditions see http://qt.digia.com/licensing. For further information ** use the contact form at http://qt.digia.com/contact-us. ** ** GNU Free Documentation License Usage ** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free ** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software ** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of ** this file. Please review the following information to ensure ** the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 requirements ** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html. ** $QT_END_LICENSE$ ** ****************************************************************************/ /*! \page qtquick-internationalization.html howto \ingroup qml-features \title Internationalization and Localization with Qt Quick \brief Following these steps, you can write your Qt Quick application so it can be localized for multiple languages \section1 Internationalizing your Application The following sections describe various aspects of internationalizing your QML source code. If you follow these guides for all the user interface elements in your application, it becomes possible to localize every aspect of your application for different languages and local cultural conventions such as the way dates and numbers are formatted. \section2 1. Use qsTr() for all Literal User Interface Strings Strings in QML can be marked for translation using the qsTr(), qsTranslate(), qsTrId(), QT_TR_NOOP(), QT_TRANSLATE_NOOP(), and QT_TRID_NOOP() functions. The most common way of marking strings is with the qsTr() function. For example: \code Text { id: txt1; text: qsTr("Back"); } \endcode This code makes "Back" a key entry in the translation files. At runtime, the translation system looks up the keyword "Back" and then gets the corresponding translation value for the current system locale. The result is returned to the \c text property and the user interface will show the appropriate translation of "Back" for the current locale. \section2 2. Add Context for the Translator User interface strings are often short so you need to help the person translating the text understand the context of the text. You can add context information in the source code as extra descriptive text before the string to be translated. These extra descriptions are included in the .ts translation files delivered to the translator. \note The .ts files are XML files with the source texts and a place for the translated text. The updated .ts files are converted into binary translation files and included as part of the final application. In the following code snippet, the text on the \c {//:} line is the main comment for the translator. The text on the \c{//~} line is optional extra information. The first word of the text is used as an additional identifier in the XML element in the .ts file so make sure the first word is not part of the sentence. For example, the comment "Context Not related to that" is converted to "Not related to that" in the .ts file. \code Text { id: txt1; // This user interface string is only used here //: The back of the object, not the front //~ Context Not related to back-stepping text: qsTr("Back"); } \endcode \section2 3. Disambiguate Identical Texts The translation system consolidates the user interface text strings into unique items. This consolidation saves the person doing the translation work having to translate the same text multiple times. However, in some cases, the text is identical but has a different meaning. For example, in English, "back" means take a step backward and also means the part of an object opposite to the front. You need to tell the translation system about these two separate meanings so the translator can create two separate translations. Differentiate between identical texts by adding some id text as the second parameter of the qsTr() function. In the following code snippet, the \c {not front} text is an id to differentiate this "Back" text from the backstepping "Back" text: \code Text { id: txt1; // This user interface string is used only here //: The back of the object, not the front //~ Context Not related to back-stepping text: qsTr("Back", "not front"); } \endcode \section2 4. Use \c %x to Insert Parameters into a String Different languages put words together in different orders so it is not a good idea to create sentences by concatenating words and data. Instead, use \c % to insert parameters into strings. For example, the following snippet has a string with two number parameters \c %1 and \c %2. These parameters are inserted with the \c .arg() functions. \code Text { text: qsTr("File %1 of %2").arg(counter).arg(total) } \endcode %1 refers to the first parameter and \c %2 refers to the second parameter so this code produces output like: "File 2 of 3". \section2 5. Use %Lx so Numbers are Localized If you include the \c %L modifier when you specify a parameter, the number is localized according to the current regional settings. For example, in the following code snippet, \c %L1 means to format the first parameters according to the number formatting conventions of the currently selected locale (geographical region): \code Text { text: qsTr("%L1").arg(total) } \endcode Then, with the above code, if \c total is the number "4321.56" (four thousand three hundred and twenty one point fifty six); with English regional settings, (locale) the output is "4,321.56"; with German regional settings, the output is "4.321,56". \section2 6. Internationalize Dates, Times and Currencies There are no special in-string modifiers for formatting dates and times. Instead, you need to query the current locale (geographical region) and use the methods of \l {QtQuick2::Date}{Date} to format the string. \c Qt.locale() returns a \l {QtQuick2::Locale}{Locale} object which contains all kinds of information about the locale. In particular, the \l {QtQuick2::Locale::name}{Locale.name} property contains the language and country information for the current locale. You can use the value as is, or you can parse it to determine the appropriate content for the current locale. The following snippet gets the current date and time with Date(), then converts that to a string for the current locale. Then it inserts the date string into the %1 parameter for the appropriate translation. \code Text { text: qsTr("Date %1").arg(Date().toLocaleString(Qt.locale())) } \endcode To make sure currency numbers are localized, use the \l {QtQuick2::Number}{Number} type. This type has similar functions as the Date type for converting numbers into localized currency strings. \section2 7. Use QT_TR_NOOP() for Translatable Data Text Strings If the user changes the system language without a reboot, depending on the system, the strings in arrays and list models and other data structures might not be refreshed automatically. To force the texts to be refreshed when they are displayed in the user interface, you need declare the strings with the QT_TR_NOOP() macro. Then, when you populate the objects for display, you need to explicitly retrieve the translation for each text. For example: \code ListModel { id: myListModel; ListElement { //: Capital city of Finland name: QT_TR_NOOP("Helsinki"); } } ... Text { text: qsTr(myListModel.get(0).name); // get the translation of the name property in element 0 } \endcode \section2 8. Use Locale to Extend Localization Features If you want different graphics or audio for different geographical regions, you can use Qt.locale() to get the current locale. Then you choose appropriate graphics or audio for that locale. The following code snippet shows how you could select an appropriate icon that represents the language of the current locale. \code Component.onCompleted: { switch (Qt.locale().name.substring(0,2)) { case "en": // show the English-language icon languageIcon = "../images/language-icon_en.png"; break; case "fi": // show the Finnish language icon languageIcon = "../images/language-icon_fi.png"; break; default: // show a default language icon languageIcon = "../images/language-icon_default.png"; } } \endcode \section1 Localizing your Application Qt Quick applications use the same underlying localization system as Qt C++ applications (lupdate, lrelease and .ts files). You use the same tools as described in the \l {Qt Linguist Manual: Release Manager}{Qt Linguist Manual}. You can even have user interface strings in C++ and QML source in the same application. The system will create a single combined translation file and the strings are accessible from QML and C++. \section2 Use a Conditional to Hide QML Source From the Compiler The \c lupdate tool extracts user interface strings from your application. lupdate reads your application's .pro file to identify which source files contain texts to be translated. This means your source files must be listed in the \c SOURCES or \c HEADERS entry in the .pro file. If your files are not listed the texts in them will not be found. However, the SOURCES variable is intended for C++ source files. If you list QML or JavaScript source files there, the compiler tries to build them as though they are C++ files. As a workaround, you can use an \c lupdate_only{...} conditional statement so the \c lupdate tool sees the .qml files but the C++ compiler ignores them. For example, the following .pro file snippet specifies two .qml files in the application. \code lupdate_only{ SOURCES = main.qml \ MainPage.qml } \endcode You can also specify the .qml source files with a wildcard match. The search is not recursive so you need to specify each directory where there are user interface strings in the source code: \code lupdate_only{ SOURCES = *.qml \ *.js \ content/*.qml \ content/*.js } \endcode See the \l {Qt Linguist Manual} for more details about Qt localization. */