{"id":31275,"date":"2020-12-15T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/?p=31275"},"modified":"2024-01-12T11:31:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T19:31:39","slug":"localize-net-applications-with-machine-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/localize-net-applications-with-machine-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Localize .NET applications with machine-translation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post, I’m going to introduce you to a GitHub Action that creates machine-translations for .NET localization. GitHub Actions allow you to build, test, and deploy your code right from GitHub, but they also allow for other workflows. You can perform nearly any action imaginable against your source code as it evolves. With the Machine Translator GitHub Action, you configure a workflow to automatically create pull requests as translation source file change.<\/p>\n

You can use localization with Blazor WebAssembly (Wasm)<\/a> to change the displayed language of a rendered website. Localization support in .NET is nothing new. It’s possible with translation files, for example, *.{locale}.resx<\/em>, *.{locale}.xliff<\/em>, or *.{locale}.restext<\/em> to name a few. The CultureInfo<\/code> class is used along with these translation files and various other .NET employed mechanics. However, maintaining translation files can be tedious and time-consuming. With GitHub Actions and Azure Cognitive Services Translator<\/a>, you can set up a workflow to automatically create pull requests that provide machine-translated files.<\/p>\n

Azure Cognitive Services Translator<\/h2>\n

Cognitive Services Translator is a cloud-based machine translation service from Azure. It powers the GitHub Action, providing the root translation functionality. To use the action, you will need a Cognitive Services Translator<\/a> resource. You can use an existing one, or create a new one<\/a>. If you do not have an Azure account, you can create one for free<\/a>. This resource is used to perform the translations from the GitHub Action through the Translator API v3<\/a>. In other words, as you push<\/em> code changes to your GitHub repository that include *.en.resx<\/em> files, this action runs when correctly specified in the workflow.<\/p>\n

For more information on filtering when actions run due to changes in specific files, see Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Machine Translator GitHub Action<\/h2>\n

The Machine Translator GitHub Action is available on the GitHub action marketplace<\/a>. This GitHub Action does the work of marrying the functionality of the Cognitive Services Translator with your source files. To use this action, you’ll need to create a GitHub workflow<\/a>. There are a few required inputs (and some optional), most of which are from your Azure Translator resource<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Type<\/th>\nInput name<\/th>\nExample \/ Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Required<\/td>\nsourceLocale<\/code><\/td>\n'en'<\/code>\nThe source locale to translate from.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Required<\/td>\nsubscriptionKey<\/code><\/td>\n'c571d5d8xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx56bac3'<\/code>\nCognitive Services Translator subscription key, ideally stored as secret<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Required<\/td>\nendpoint<\/code><\/td>\n'https:\/\/api.cognitive.microsofttranslator.com\/'<\/code>\nCognitive Services Translator endpoint, ideally stored as secret<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Optional<\/td>\nregion<\/code><\/td>\n'canadacentral'<\/code>\nCognitive Services Translator region, ideally stored as secret. Optional when using a global translator resource.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Optional<\/td>\ntoLocales<\/code><\/td>\n'\"es,de,fr\"'<\/code> or '[\"es\",\"de\",\"fr\"]'<\/code>\nLimit the scope of the translation targets. If not<\/em> provided, uses all possible translation targets.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Additionally, the action requires a GITHUB_TOKEN<\/code> as an environment variable. GitHub automatically creates a GITHUB_TOKEN<\/code> secret to use in your workflow as an encrypted secret. To define this environment variable, use the following YAML within your workflow (more on this later):<\/p>\n

env:\r\n  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
For more information, see GitHub Actions: Authentication in a workflow\n<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Machine Translator design<\/h3>\n
The Machine Translator action is entirely open source. It is written in TypeScript<\/a>, and designed to accomplish several key objectives:<\/p>\n