Handling APKs
SDL Passolo can handle APK bundles without the need of unpacking/packing. When using the parser with APKs, the bundle is unpacked in the project folder each time the sources are scanned or updated. After unpacking, the res/values/filename.xml (default string resource file) is considered as source and all the translations will be based on it.
After the translation is done, the target can be generated. For APKs, this happens in two steps:
- The target language XMLs are saved in the unpacked Android application.
- The application folder is repacked and the target APK (containing all the translations) is saved as
<passsolo_project_folder>\<android_application_name>\dist\< android_application_name >.apk.The original bundle remains untouched
To deploy the APK to an Android device, the generated APK should be signed using standard procedures (with a keystore, key alias and passwords).
Requirements for using the Android Parser
You need to install the following software in order to process APKs in SDL Passolo 2018:
- .NET 4.6
- Java Runtime Engine (JRE)
You will also need the following if you want to sign and preview the resulting translated application:
- For signing the application: Java JDK (minimum required version to compile the application or the latest version). It is recommended to have both x86 and x64 versions installed, but use the x64 version with the parser.
- For previewing the application: an emulator (if you do not test on a device). You could use, for example, the emulators from the Android SDK or the ARC Welder Chrome plugin
Create a project with an APK
- In Passolo, go to .
- Go to the Parser tab and check if the Android parser loads on use.
- Close the window and create a project with your APK as source file
Signing an APK
To sign an APK you need to ask the developer for a keystore file, key alias and passwords or to generate yourself. You can follow the tutorial from the Android Developers Documentation.
After you have a keystore file, follow the steps:
- Open the project in Passolo.
- Go to .
- Go to the Parser tab, select the Android Parser and click Setup.
- Enable the Sign the target APK option.
- Browse for the JDK installation folder.
- Select a valid keystore file and insert the other required fields.
- Save settings and close the dialog.
Previewing an APK
To test the APK translation, you could either install it on an Android device or use an emulator of choice.
One easy option is to use the ARC Welder Chrome plugin, but you must make sure that Chrome's UI language is set to English.
To do this:
- Go to Chrome settings.
- Type language in the search bar.
- Click Language and input settings.
- Select English and click Display Google Chrome in this language.