messages-json-generator

messages-json-generator

If you knew what you were doing when you started translating your WebExtension then you probably don't need this. If you didn't, this might help you find and fix your mistakes more quickly.

This is a very messy but effective program for generating translatable messages.json files from the HTML files used to build pages and user-interfaces for WebExtensions in Firefox and Chrome. It scans a directory for HTML files, then scans the files for elements which have an id. After performing a few checks, It gathers the default textData from the HTML tags and places it into a properly-formatted messages.ex.json file. Then it generates a messages.js file which automatically enables the translations on pages where you include it with:

<script src="messages.js"></script>

If you do not have any existing translations, messages.ex.json simply be copied to _locales/$lang/messages.json. If you do have existing translations, there are additional steps you need to take to migrate away incrementally.

1. Continue using your existing translation fields
2. Combine your existing messages.json file with the new messages.ex.json file

messages-json-combine is a supplementary program to help you combine 2 messages.json files into one.

Once you're done, review your new translated text(things have probably been changed or overwritten with default values determined by the HTML textData).

You now have translation coverage.

See also: https://github.com/eyedeekay/webext-translator.