gsheet-resources is a tool that allows you to export/convert the strings in a Google Sheet into resource files for Android and Kotlin Multiplatform apps.

Storing the translations of an app in a Google Sheet is simple and easy.

• It allows customers to change the strings of an app without having to learn any "real" translation tools (e.g. to edit PO files)
• It makes it possible to share the strings with other platforms (like iOS) without having to use a separate shared repository and git submodules.

Maybe. But it has worked for me, in multiple Android projects over the years.

gsheet-resources is available as a Gradle plugin.

Add the following line to your libs.versions.toml file in the [plugins] section:

gsheetresources = "be.norio.gsheet-resources:<LATEST_VERSION>"

with <LATEST_VERSION> being the version you want to use of the plugin (see releases).

Then, define the plugin in your root build.gradle.kts file:

plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.gsheetresources) apply (false) 
}

Then, apply the plugin to your module's build file, e.g app/build.gradle.kts:

plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.gsheetresources)
}

The Google Sheet that contains your translation strings MUST follow these conventions:

1. Only the first tab is used. All other tabs are ignored.
2. The first row is a header row.
3. The first column must contain the IDs for the resources. This must be a valid Java/Kotlin identifier.
4. All subsequent columns will be treated as a language if the header row contains a valid language qualifier.

Check the sample for some examples.

Additionally, you must go into the share settings of the Google Sheet and make sure that "Anyone with the link" is a "Viewer".

Be aware: This will make your translations sheet readable by anybody with the link. I do not consider this a (security) problem, because in the end your translations will be embedded in an Android app anyway.

The configuration of the plugin is done via the gsheetresources block in your module's build file e.g. app/build.gradle.kts file, like so:

gsheetresources {
    // The unique identifier of your Google Sheet. This is part of the sheet URL.
    // Required
    sheetId = "sheet_id"

    // The unique identifier of the tab in your Google Sheet. This is the 'gid' parameter of the sheet URL.
    // Optional. Defaults to "0".
    tabId = "tab_id"

    // Path to the resource directory. Relative to the module.
    // Optional. Defaults to "src/main/res".
    resourceDir = "path/to/resource/dir"

    // Name of the generated string resource files. Should have the extension ".xml".
    // Optional. Defaults to "strings_generated.xml".
    outputFilename = "output.xml"

    // Name of the generated plural resource file. Should have the extension ".xml".
    // Optional. Defaults to "plurals_generated.xml".
    outputFilename = "plurals.xml"
}

gsheetresources {
    sheetId = "sheet_id"
}

gsheetresources {
    sheetId = "sheet_id"
    resourceDir = "src/commonMain/composeResources"
}

A file with plural resources will be generated automatically if there are any IDs that follow these conventions:

1. The ID ends with an underscore, followed by one the valid quantity strings: zero, one, two, few, many or other.
2. There are multiple IDs with the same beginning, e.g. items_one and items_other.

The sample contains example plurals.

Check out the Android documentation about plurals or the KMP documentation about plurals for more information.

You can launch the tool by running the following command in your terminal:

./gradlew generateSheetResources

This will automatically generate a string resource file called strings_generated.xml for each language found in the sheet, and a plural resource file called plurals_generated.xml if any plurals are present.

I recommend to add the generated files into version control. You can rerun the above command to update the generated files after changes were made to the Google Sheet.

This sample Google Sheet...

...with this configuration...

gsheetresources {
    sheetId = "1L6EsUDM9qnsQjrT2Y16eXRzMP3v5Njp2gckwY-oZpcM"
}

...results in the following string resource files:

• src/main/res/values/strings_generated.xml
• src/main/res/values-nl/strings_generated.xml
• src/main/res/values-nl-rBE/strings_generated.xml

...and the following plural resource file:

• src/main/res/values/plurals_generated.xml