Android string placeholders
[ | January 10, 2013]
This article reviews different ways to create dynamic translatable strings in Android.
Quick reminder¶
In Android, message strings are extracted to XML files, and the system loads the resources corresponding to the current configuration.
res/values/strings.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="sexy_button_title">Click me, I'm famous!</string>
</resources>
res/values-fr/strings.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="sexy_button_title">Cliquez-moi, parce que je le vaux bien !</string>
</resources>
Resources resources = context.getResources();
String sexyButtonTitle = resources.getString(R.string.sexy_button_title);
Formatting strings¶
Let’s say we want to display a dynamic string, such as Player Foo - Score: 42.
We may be tempted to implement that quickly with String.format().
Wrong
Resources resources = context.getResources();
String scoreString = String.format(resources.getString(R.string.score_format), player, score);
You will get a compile time error message on the <string /> definition.
Error
Multiple substitutions specified in non-positional format; did you mean to add the formatted=”false” attribute?
This error message is misleading, because one may believe that using formatted="false" is the way to go.
Still Wrong
Although the error message now disappears, the real solution is to use a positional format.
Right
When translating strings, the word order will change. For instance, Name: John Smith in English becomes Nom : Smith John in French.
Resources resources = context.getResources();
String scoreString = String.format(resources.getString(R.string.name), firstname, lastname);
res/values/strings.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="name">Name: %1$s %2$s</string>
</resources>
res/values-fr/strings.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string name="name">Nom : %2$s %1$s</string>
</resources>
Using positional format prevents translation mistakes.
getString()¶
Did you know that instead of String.format(), you can use an overloaded version of getString() that handles formatting?
Resources resources = context.getResources();
String scoreString = resources.getString(R.string.score_format, player, score);
Is that stricly equivalent to the previous code? Let’s look at the Android source!
public class Resources {
// …
public String getString(int id, Object... formatArgs) throws NotFoundException {
String raw = getString(id);
return String.format(mConfiguration.locale, raw, formatArgs);
}
}
Almost the same, except that we are using the resource configuration locale, whereas we were previously using the default locale.
public final class String implements Serializable, Comparable<String>, CharSequence {
// …
public static String format(String format, Object... args) {
return format(Locale.getDefault(), format, args);
}
}
Locale.getDefault() is usually equal to mConfiguration.locale, so this won’t really be a problem until you start messing with the default locale.
By the way, you probably know that getString() is also available on Context.
What’s the difference? None. It just delegates to Resources.
public abstract class Context {
// …
public final String getString(int resId, Object... formatArgs) {
return getResources().getString(resId, formatArgs);
}
}
If someone knows the story behind this weird shortcut method, let me know. For now, I’ll just assume this is a consequence of Drunk Driven Development.
Professional Translation¶
Your users deserve better than Google translate. XML resource files should be translated by a professional translator.
This translator will know nothing about your app internals. Therefore, it may be really hard to find out what those %1$s cryptic signs mean.
You can use comments to help the translator.
<!-- %1$s is the player nickname and %2$d is the player score -->
<string name="score_format">Player %1$s - Score: %2$d</string>
By the way, if you need excellent quality software translation, I know someone that’s been translating software for more than 25 years. Yes, he is my father :) .
Using placeholders¶
Another interesting approach is to use named placeholders instead of format specifiers.
I won’t discuss which syntax is better for this kind of problem, let’s just pick a simple one: {placeholder}.
I find this much more readable! Now, you’ll need an API to transform that format to the final string.
TagFormat scoreFormat = TagFormat.from(getString(R.string.score_format));
scoreFormat.with("nickname", player);
scoreFormat.with("score", score);
String scoreString = scoreFormat.format();
Implementing this API is fairly straightforward.
public class TagFormat {
public static TagFormat from(String format) {
return new TagFormat(format);
}
private final String format;
private final Map<String, Object> tags = new LinkedHashMap<String, Object>();
private TagFormat(String format) {
this.format = format;
}
public TagFormat with(String key, Object value) {
tags.put("\\{" + key + "\\}", value);
return this;
}
public String format() {
String formatted = format;
for (Entry<String, Object> tag : tags.entrySet()) {
// bottleneck, creating temporary String objects!
formatted = formatted.replaceAll(tag.getKey(), tag.getValue().toString());
}
return formatted;
}
}
This is just an example implementation, I’ll leave a better one to you as an exercice. An interesting point here is that with() returns this, so you can use it as a fluid API.
String scoreString = TagFormat.from(getString(R.string.score_format))
.with("nickname", player)
.with("score", score)
.format();
Conclusion¶
I shamelessly stole this {placeholder} idea from Eric Burke, and thought it was worth sharing.
Of course, you may already use Java libraries that can do this. If you are aware of a good one that does a decent job, let me know!