Checking i18n files in UI5

i18n files are used in SAPUI5 for translating applications. Per language one file is created, containing key-value-pairs (see documentation), see example:

showHelloButtonText=Say Hello
helloMsg=Hello {0}

This tool helps to validate those files.

CLI Usage

To check the i18n files of an application, just call the validator in your applications directory:

Usage: ui5-i18n-validator [options]

Options:
   --bail-on-error, -b     Cancel npm task, if any errors were found [boolean]
   --rules, -r             List of rules, seperated by space [string]

As best practice is, that the i18n-files are located in a dedicated i18n directory, the directories must be organized like this:

App directory
 ├─ dist
 └─ webapp
   ├─ controller
   ├─ i18n
   │   ├─ i18n.properties
   │   ├─ i18n_de.properties
   │   ├─ i18n_en.properties
   │   ├─ ...
   ├─ view

Maybe in further versions, and if requested, the path to i18n directory can be configured.

Options

bail-on-error

ui5-i18n-validator --bail-on-error will exit the process with error code 1.

Hint: This can be helpful, for example in CI/CD scenarios, when you want the build process to fail, if there are errors.

If the parameter is not provided, the process will end with no error code (0).

rules

ui5-i18n-validator --rules missing-keys empty-keys will only check the two rules, which are provided as parameter.

Following rules exist:

• missing-keys
• empty-keys
• hardcoded-texts

For a detailed description of the rules see chapter Validation rules.

If the parameter is not provided, all rules will be used for validation.

Validation rules

Currently following rules are supported for validating translations:

Missing keys

This rule checks, if there are keys defined for one language, which are missing for another. For example:

i18n_en.properties:

formTitle = Form
sendBtn = Send

i18n_de.properties:

formTitle = Formular

In this case the validator will print the following content on CLI:

Checking missing keys:
‼ Following keys exist in *en* but are missing in *de*
   ×  sendBtn

If there's no key missing, the output will look like this:

Checking missing keys:
√ No missing keys found.

Empty keys

This rule will check if there are keys defined, missing a value. For example:

i18n_en.properties:

formTitle = Form
sendBtn = 

In this case, the validator will print a message like this:

Checking empty keys:
‼ Following keys are empty in en
   × sendBtn

In case there's no value missing, the output will look like this:

Checking empty keys:
√ No empty keys found.

Hardcoded texts

Basically this rule checks all xml files in the webapp folder for attributes, which should be translated (for a complete list of attributes see Chapter Limitations). If an attributes value does not start with an {, the validator assumes, that it's not translated. So:

<!-- This would be an error -->
<Page title="View 1" id="page">

<!-- This would be fine -->
<Page title="{i18n>viewTitle}" id="page">

If there are hardcoded texts, the output will look like this:

Checking hardcoded texts:
‼ Following propably hardcoded texts were found in View1.xml
   ×  line: 9    attribute: title        value: View 1

In case there are no hardcoded texts found, the output will look like this:

Checking hardcoded texts:
√ No hardcoded texts found.

Limitations

Ensuring that there are definitely no hardcoded texts, can be very complex. So there are some limitations:

• Only xml files are checked. So hardcoded texts from JavaScript files won't be found (e.g. MessageBox.show("hello world"))
• Only some xml attributes are currently checked, wheter they are hardcoded or not. As of now, the following attributes are checked:
  • title,
  • subtitle,
  • text,
  • placeholder,
  • headerText,
  • objectTitle,
  • objectSubtitle,
  • secondTitle,
  • label

Contribute

Would be great if you contribute. There's lots of room for improvement. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT © Lukas Böhm