Convert localizable.string file to JSON in iOS swift

Question

I have 3 Localizable files in my project Localizable.string(English), Localizable.string(German) and Localizable.string(French) with several keys and values of form localizationKey1 = "Text1 in english"; . I want them to be converted in a single json file in format

{
    "localizationKey1": {
        "en": "Text1 in english",
        "de": "Text1 in german",
        "fr": "Text1 in french"
    },
    "localizationKey2": {
        "en": "Text2 in english",
        "de": "Text2 in german",
        "fr": "Text2 in french"
    } and so on depending on number of keys
}

How do I go about it?

EDIT: I was able to the required JSON format based on the answer by @Francis but the orders of the outer and inner keys are messed up. Is there any way to order them?

Answer 1

Try this

        let path1 = (Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Localizable", ofType: "strings", inDirectory: nil, forLocalization: "en"))
        let path2 = (Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Localizable", ofType: "strings", inDirectory: nil, forLocalization: "de"))
        let path3 = (Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Localizable", ofType: "strings", inDirectory: nil, forLocalization: "fr"))
        let dict1 = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path1!)
        let dict2 = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path2!)
        let dict3 = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: path3!)
        var newDict = [String : Any]()
        for (key, value) in dict1! {
            var value2 = ""
            var value3 = ""
            if let keyVal = dict2?[key] as? String {
                value2 = keyVal
            }

            if let keyVal = dict3?[key] as? String {
                value3 = keyVal
            }
            let tempDict = ["en": value, "de": value2, "fr": value3]
            newDict["\(key)"] = tempDict
        }
        do {
          let data = try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: newDict, options: .prettyPrinted)
          let dataString = String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)!
          print(dataString) //This will give you the required JSON format
        } catch {
          print("JSON serialization failed: ", error)
        }

Answer 2

You could try reading the file as normal UTF8 txt file. You would iterate through lines, break lines into components separated by " = " and put the result into some dictionary. Then serialize the dictionary into JSON data.

Maybe something like the following:

func parseLocalizationStringFilesToJSON(files: [(path: String, key: String)]) throws -> Data {

    // Generate a dictionary that will be in the end parsed to JSON
    var dictionary: [String: [String: String]] = [String: [String: String]]()

    // Iterate through all files
    try files.forEach { file in
        // try reading file as UTF8 string
        let fileString = try String(contentsOfFile: file.path, encoding: .utf8)

        // Break down file string to lines
        let lines = fileString.components(separatedBy: .newlines)

        // Extract from each line
        lines.forEach { line in
            // TODO: Skip lines that do not start with "
            let separator = " = " // A separator used to separate key-value in strings file
            let lineComponents = line.components(separatedBy: separator) // Break down to components

            if lineComponents.count >= 2 { // There may be more than 2 components. Imagine: localizationKey1 = "A = B";
                // TODO: Trim the key to remove whitespaces and "
                let key = lineComponents[0] // Key is always the first component
                // TODO: Trim the value to remove whitespaces and "
                let value = lineComponents[1...].joined(separator: separator) // The rest must be joined back together

                var innerDictionary: [String: String] = dictionary[key] ?? [String: String]() // Extract current sub-json at this key or create a new sub-json
                innerDictionary[file.key] = value // Assign a new value
                dictionary[key] = innerDictionary // Put back to main dictionary
            }
        }
    }

    // Serialize it to JSON data
    return try JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: dictionary, options: .prettyPrinted)
}

This method is not tested but just written on the fly. It also has 3 points that still need to be implemented to remove all the extra parts and to ignore irrelevant lines.

The usage would be like:

let jsonData: Data = try? parseLocalizationStringFilesToJSON(files: [
    (Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Localizable", ofType: "string(English)"), "en"),
    (Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Localizable", ofType: "string(German)"), "de"),
    (Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Localizable", ofType: "string(French)"), "fr")    
])

I hope this at least gets you started. I suggest you ask other more specific questions if things go wrong or if you have trouble finding answers on parts that are still to be done.