Support the new fbtee format

[cpojer]

Hello Crowdin folks,

fbtee is a modern rewrite of Facebook's fbt. It used to work fine with Crowdin until recently, but the file format of source_strings.json was slightly changed:

Before:

{
      "hashToLeaf": {
        "a3ruXfPRZE9V0OoG50TZsA==": {
          "desc": "In the phrase: \"An internationalization framework for JavaScript & React designed to be {=powerful}, {=flexible}, and {=intuitive}.\"",
          "text": "intuitive"
        }
      },
      "filepath": "src/App.tsx",
      "col_beg": 14,
      "col_end": 76
      "line_beg": 164,
      "line_end": 164,
      "project": "",
      "jsfbt": {
        "m": [],
        "t": {
          "desc": "In the phrase: \"An internationalization framework for JavaScript & React designed to be {=powerful}, {=flexible}, and {=intuitive}.\"",
          "text": "intuitive"
        }
      }
    },

After:

{
      "hashToLeaf": {
        "a3ruXfPRZE9V0OoG50TZsA==": {
          "desc": "In the phrase: \"An internationalization framework for JavaScript & React designed to be {=powerful}, {=flexible}, and {=intuitive}.\"",
          "text": "intuitive"
        }
      },
      "filename": "src/App.tsx",
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 164,
          "column": 14,
          "index": 5838
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 164,
          "column": 76,
          "index": 5900
        }
      },
      "project": "",
      "jsfbt": {
        "m": [],
        "t": {
          "desc": "In the phrase: \"An internationalization framework for JavaScript & React designed to be {=powerful}, {=flexible}, and {=intuitive}.\"",
          "text": "intuitive"
        }
      }
    },

The difference is the new loc prob for location information, and filepath was changed to filename. Would you be able to support the new format?

[andrii-bodnar]

Hi @cpojer, thanks for reporting this!

Could you please contact our customer success team with these details regarding the FBT file format? They will forward it directly to the development team for further investigation. Thank you very much!

[dies]

Hi @cpojer

given the limited demand, we may not be able to prioritize native fbtee support in the near term

as a workaround, would it be feasible to convert fbtee to noirmal FBT format before import, then convert back after translation?

Crowdin has a concept of pre/post processors (https://crowdin.github.io/app-project-module/file-processor/pre-import/) that could handle this transformation automatically. we could create an "fbtee" app that:

1. Converts fbtee → FBT on file upload
2. Converts FBT → fbtee on export/download

this would provide a smooth user experience while we gauge interest in native support

would this approach work for your use case?

[cpojer]

@dies Hey! I'm a decade long user of Crowdin (check internally for user cnakazawa, and previously cpojer). I've used fbt for 13 years (internally at Facebook, and then in open source). fbt did not gain adoption in open source, and Nakazawa Tech forked and rewrote it into fbtee. fbt was abandoned by Facebook, and anyone who is using it or wants to use it will migrate to or use fbtee as fbt does not work with modern tooling. fbtee is effectively "fbt v2". Please consider whether it's possible to support the small changes in the source string format from your side.

You can read more about the differences between fbt and fbtee here: https://github.com/nkzw-tech/fbtee/#whats-better-about-fbtee-than-fbt

[compojoom]

for what is worth - I've used crowdin in the past with fbt and today I'm trying to localize a new project with fbtee (due to reasons cpojer outliend above fbt is no longer supported). I'm very dissapointed that crowdin doesn't support the fbt format and hope that you can reconsider and just do the small changes cpojer explained.

[andrii-bodnar]

Hi @cpojer, @compojoom!

Thanks for providing the additional details! I've passed this to the team, we'll take a closer look and let you know as soon as we have an update.

[cpojer]

@andrii-bodnar Happy to help with improving support.

@compojoom fyi, Relang.dev is currently in private alpha. It's a new service that tightly integrates with fbtee to automatically translate your app instantly.