Language Localization - Foreign Language Apps -- Build Settings?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Has anyone successfully created a localized app on the iTunes App Store with Corona? We have a localized app, but the App Store still lists it as “English” language only.

We are successfully detecting the language preference of the device, via:

local language = system.getPreference( "ui", "language" )

And we are successfully serving up different language content within the app based on the device’s language preference.

And we have added localizations in iTunes Connect, and added descriptive text and screenshots for 3 different languages.

But the app is still listed as being “English” only when viewed in iTunes. For some reason, iTunes still doesn’t ‘know’ that our app is localized.

I would think that simply adding multiple localized versions via iTunes Connect would be enough to get iTunes to be “aware” of the localization – but apparently that’s not the case.

Do I need to specify that localization options are available in my build.settings file or something?

We’re obviously missing some crucial step, because our app *is* localized, has localized app store listings and screenshots… but iTunes still just says “Language: English”

What am I missing??

Thanks in advance.

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#2

Don’t you have the option to create new definitions for the other languages in iTunes for the same binary? By default I guess you create the English.

cheers,

?:slight_smile: [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 55680[/import]

#3

Yes. As I said, we did that.

We have added 3 languages in iTunes besides English already.

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. So far we have taken these two steps for localization:

  1. We detect the language within the app and serve up different localized content depending on the language settings on the device.

  2. We added 3 additional languages in iTunes, and entered foreign language App Store descriptions and uploaded foreign language screenshots.

But when you view the app listing in iTunes it just says: “Language: English”

Other localized apps have a list of languages following the word “Language:”

That’s what I’m trying to figure out: How do we get that list of languages to appear? We have already created German, Japanese, French and English versions. We added localizations on iTunes Connect, added AppStore text in each of those languages and uploaded localized images. Still, no dice.

Do we need to add available languages to build.settings somehow?

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#4

I know that you have tried much more than what I could be suggesting, but have you had a read of this document from apple?
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/iTunesConnect_DeveloperGuide.pdf ?

On page 64/65 you will find a reference to the internationalization, now If you could have screenshots of where you are stuck that wold be helpful.

cheers,

?:slight_smile: [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 55684[/import]

#5

…and since xcode relies on .lproj files for language, if you add blank folders with the language names, that should trick iTunes to think there are localisations in your app.

en.lproj
es.lproj
de.lproj
and so on…

not tried, but give it a shot, it might just work…

cheers,

?:slight_smile: [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 55685[/import]

#6

Thanks for the posts. Yes, we have followed all of the localization options on iTunes connect.

I haven’t yet tried creating dummy .lproj directories for language. It’s certainly something I can try… but I was assuming that other users had successfully localized apps previously with Corona – and that this was something probably addressable via build.settings … no?
Here are some screens to illustrate the problem:

Localizations have been added:

The app is successfully displaying localized content depending on device language settings:

But the AppStore still seems to display “English” only… ?

My guess is that I need to include some information within the binary for iTunes to pick up on… Any ideas?
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#7

the .lproj folder is the one that I would add to my xcode project that contains the localisation strings file, this is what is in the app *that* I *think* is used by iTunes.

CoronaSDK gives you the base system via the getPreference() function, but that has nothing to do with the app being localised on the iTunes store.

*I could* not find a plist reference either that indicates localization, other than the .lproj directories.

so you could create a test dummy app and upload to iTunes to test.

cheers,

?:slight_smile: [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 55709[/import]

#8

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve tried them and tried a few permutations and I’m not having any luck. Unfortunately I need to go live – so I’ll have to live with Corona’s lack of localization capability for the time being.

I’ve added a Feature Request post, because I think this seems to be a very big glaring hole in Corona’s feature set.

With other non-Corona apps, I’ve seen a pretty decent increase in sales in territories that are localized for – and I’m surprised that Corona doesn’t have the ability to localize using build.settings, or using the build dialog, or any other means. IMHO if there’s one very easy-to-implement feature that has a positive effect on sales, it’s localization.

Without the ability to localize Corona apps – I’m going to have to think twice about whether Corona is right for future projects.

Thanks again for your help Jayantv!

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#9

@jroven0,

Do you have any luck with this? I’m also planning to use localization in the future so I’ve been following this thread.

I made a zip file for you if you wish to try it. This is based on @jayantv’s idea but I don’t think just putting the empty folders will be enough…

http://www.pixelenvision.com/wp-content/uploads/localize.zip

ZIP file contains .lproj folders with Localizable.strings files in it for all 4 languages you are trying to add…

Just extract those 4 folders in to your project so they will be included in your bundle when complied…

I hope that works. Please let us know if you try it! :wink:

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#10

I’m not sure if you had time to test the files but it looks like there is a plist setting for that!

CFBundleLocalizations

Just stumbled upon this post, sounds like a solution for your problem…

http://monkeybin.no/blog/archives/2011/09/18/corona-sdk-localization-made-easy/

[lua]-- build.settings

settings =
{
iphone =
{
plist=
{
CFBundleLocalizations =
{
“English”,
“French”,
“German”,
“Japanese”
},
},
},
}[/lua] [import]uid: 10478 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 56427[/import]

#11

Wow! I looked *everywhere* for this.

Thank you * 10000 !

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#12

You’re welcome! [import]uid: 10478 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 56505[/import]

#13

Although you can use a language name, Apple recommends that you use the ISO 639-1 specification that uses a two-letter code to identify a language.

See the following links:
Apple Information Property List Key Reference http://j.mp/puJZJd
Apple Language and Locale Designations http://j.mp/pdnYqi
Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages http://j.mp/mPXI7U

Example:
[lua]-- build.settings

settings =
{
iphone =
{
plist=
{
CFBundleLocalizations =
{
“en”,
“fr”,
“de”,
“zh”,
“ja”
},
},
},
}[/lua] [import]uid: 70847 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 64043[/import]

#14

This post was of great use for me, as I am working on an app that will support several languages. But I am missing info on how to handle the app name. The plist setting CFBundleDisplayName can be used to set the display name, but how to do this for different languages? With Xcode, you would simply localize this entry, but how to achieve this with Corona? Anybody found a solution?

Edit: Someone found a solution already, I leave my entry unchanged in case others read this useful thread. This is how to handle the localized app names:
http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2011/09/29/problem-cfbundlelocalizations-and-cfbundledisplayname

Leif@Vivendo [import]uid: 10329 topic_id: 15049 reply_id: 84754[/import]