Localization: exclude SwiftUI preview strings from translation + CI lint (narrowed scope) by jkmassel · Pull Request #25701 · wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS

jkmassel · 2026-06-25T01:16:33Z

Description

Narrowed focus: this PR does two tightly-related things — exclude SwiftUI preview strings from translation, and add a CI lint so they can't regress. The broader non-translatable cleanup from the original audit (glyphs, brand names, debug screens, the unwired Realtime feature) has been rolled back to a separate PR; see Deferred below.

xcstringstool extract --SwiftUI-Text (the extractor #25688's catalog lane will enable) pulls in every Text("literal"), including the placeholder/sample strings in preview blocks, which never ship to users. This PR:

Wraps the 23 such literals (10 files, all in Modules/) in Text(verbatim:) so they're excluded.
Adds a lint that fails CI if a localizable Text("…") ever lands in a #Preview again.

No behavior change — verbatim: renders these strings identically.

The lint: `lint_swiftui_preview_strings`

New fastlane lane + Buildkite step (Lint SwiftUI Preview Strings, in the Linters group):

Reuses the extractor as its own oracle — xcstringstool tags every extracted string's visibility, and #Preview / PreviewProvider literals come out as "visibility": "preview". No source parsing or brace-tracking, tautologically consistent with what extraction pulls, and zero false positives (preview code never ships, so a localizable literal there is always wrong).
On failure prints the exact file:line + the fix.
Self-contained — no dependency on Localization: String Catalog pipeline (plurals + catalog generation) #25688's catalog lane, so it runs on trunk today.

Proof — the lint catches a real regression in CI

Verified on CI, not just locally. Temporarily re-introducing one preview literal and pushing it tripped the step: failing build #32839 → Lint SwiftUI Preview Strings (red in ~1 min), with the actionable output:

Scanning 2555 Swift files for localizable Text("…") literals in previews…
  Modules/Sources/WordPressUI/Views/CardView.swift:36  "Card Content"
1 localizable SwiftUI `Text("…")` literal(s) found in `#Preview` / `PreviewProvider`.
Preview strings must not be extracted for translation — wrap each in `Text(verbatim:)`.

That demonstration commit has since been reverted, so this branch is green. (It also caught a real wiring bug: the first attempt, #32838, died in the Fastfile before_all hook because the lint script wasn't seeding project.env — fixed by copying project.env-example, same as the sibling localization lint.)

Documented in docs/localization.md.

Deferred to a follow-up

The broader non-translatable cleanup the original audit covered — glyphs/dividers (Text("·")), brand names (Text("WordPress.com")), pure interpolations (Text("@\(username)")), developer/debug-menu screens, and the unwired Realtime stats feature (~60 literals) — is not in this PR. Those are judgment calls the lint can't decide (is this glyph translatable? should this debug screen localize?), so they belong in a separate, reviewable change. Flipping swiftui: true on generate_strings_catalog likewise lives in #25688's branch. Both follow once this and #25688 land.

Testing instructions

No user-facing change — Text(verbatim:) renders byte-identical for these preview placeholders.

CI proved the Lint SwiftUI Preview Strings step fails on a preview regression — build #32839 — then went green once the demonstration was reverted.
swiftc -parse clean across the changed Swift files.
Lint verified locally — green on the cleaned tree; red (correct file:line) on an injected preview Text("…").

Related: #25700, #25688

dangermattic · 2026-06-25T01:17:02Z

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⚠️	View files have been modified, but no screenshot or video is included in the pull request. Consider adding some for clarity.

	1 Message
📖	This PR is still a Draft: some checks will be skipped.

Generated by 🚫 Danger

wpmobilebot · 2026-06-25T01:31:55Z

📲 You can test the changes from this Pull Request in Jetpack by scanning the QR code below to install the corresponding build.

	App Name	Jetpack
	Configuration	Release-Alpha
	Build Number	`32844`
	Version	`PR #25701`
	Bundle ID	`com.jetpack.alpha`
	Commit	`c4c5e74`
	Installation URL	21u9ec4sf0g5g

Automatticians: You can use our internal self-serve MC tool to give yourself access to those builds if needed.

wpmobilebot · 2026-06-25T01:32:05Z

📲 You can test the changes from this Pull Request in WordPress by scanning the QR code below to install the corresponding build.

	App Name	WordPress
	Configuration	Release-Alpha
	Build Number	`32844`
	Version	`PR #25701`
	Bundle ID	`org.wordpress.alpha`
	Commit	`c4c5e74`
	Installation URL	54o9lia2pftcg

Automatticians: You can use our internal self-serve MC tool to give yourself access to those builds if needed.

`xcstringstool extract --SwiftUI-Text` extracts every `Text("literal")` — including the placeholder/sample strings inside `#Preview` and `PreviewProvider` blocks, which never ship to users. Wrap those 23 literals in `Text(verbatim:)` so they're excluded from translation. Scoped to preview strings; the broader non-translatable cleanup (glyphs, brand names, developer/debug screens, the unwired Realtime feature) is deferred to a separate PR.

…view` Adds a `lint_swiftui_preview_strings` fastlane lane and a "Lint SwiftUI Preview Strings" Buildkite step so preview strings can't regress: a `#Preview` shipping a translatable `Text("literal")` now fails CI with the exact file:line and the fix (wrap in `Text(verbatim:)`). Reuses Apple's extractor as its own oracle — `xcstringstool extract --SwiftUI-Text` tags every extracted string's `visibility`, and #Preview / PreviewProvider literals come out as `visibility: "preview"`. No source parsing or brace-tracking, and tautologically consistent with what extraction pulls. Self-contained (no dependency on the #25688 catalog lane). Green on the current tree; verified it fails on an injected preview literal. Documents the `verbatim:` rule and the gate in docs/localization.md.

Adversarial testing surfaced that a `#Preview` wrapped in `#if DEBUG` gets a compound `visibility` — {"type":"conjunction","values":[{"type":"defined", "value":"DEBUG"},"preview"]} — that the exact `== "preview"` check missed, so a conditionally-compiled preview literal slipped through. Recurse the visibility values (new `preview_visibility?`) so `#if`-gated previews are caught; a bare `#if FLAG` with no preview leaf stays correctly unflagged (no new false positives — verified green on the full tree). Also documents the remaining by-design gaps the testing confirmed: preview-only strings hoisted into free helper views/funcs are indistinguishable from shipping code, and modern `String(localized:)` / `LocalizedStringResource` APIs aren't on the `--SwiftUI-Text` surface (both latent — the cleanup is `Text("…")`-only).

dangermattic · 2026-06-25T22:18:08Z

+
+  # Run `xcstringstool extract --SwiftUI-Text` over the files and return a sorted "file:line  \"key\"" entry
+  # for every extracted string tagged `visibility: preview` (i.e. originating from #Preview / PreviewProvider).
+  def preview_localizable_text_literals(files)


🚫 Metrics/AbcSize: Assignment Branch Condition size for preview_localizable_text_literals is too high. [<13, 28, 7> 31.65/17]

dangermattic · 2026-06-25T22:18:09Z

+
+  # Run `xcstringstool extract --SwiftUI-Text` over the files and return a sorted "file:line  \"key\"" entry
+  # for every extracted string tagged `visibility: preview` (i.e. originating from #Preview / PreviewProvider).
+  def preview_localizable_text_literals(files)


🚫 Metrics/CyclomaticComplexity: Cyclomatic complexity for preview_localizable_text_literals is too high. [8/7]

jkmassel marked this pull request as draft June 25, 2026 01:22

jkmassel changed the title ~~Localization: convert non-translatable SwiftUI Text literals to Text(verbatim:)~~ Localization: convert non-translatable SwiftUI Text literals to verbatim (+ CI lint for previews) Jun 25, 2026

jkmassel force-pushed the issue-25700 branch from 00f051f to f2b3b7d Compare June 25, 2026 21:27

jkmassel changed the title ~~Localization: convert non-translatable SwiftUI Text literals to verbatim (+ CI lint for previews)~~ Localization: use Text(verbatim:) for SwiftUI preview strings + CI lint Jun 25, 2026

jkmassel force-pushed the issue-25700 branch from 237d213 to cce193f Compare June 25, 2026 21:37

jkmassel changed the title ~~Localization: use Text(verbatim:) for SwiftUI preview strings + CI lint~~ Localization: exclude SwiftUI preview strings from translation + CI lint (narrowed scope) Jun 25, 2026

jkmassel force-pushed the issue-25700 branch from cce193f to 9b7f600 Compare June 25, 2026 22:03

dangermattic reviewed Jun 25, 2026

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Localization: exclude SwiftUI preview strings from translation + CI lint (narrowed scope)#25701

Localization: exclude SwiftUI preview strings from translation + CI lint (narrowed scope)#25701
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Description

The lint: lint_swiftui_preview_strings

Proof — the lint catches a real regression in CI

Deferred to a follow-up

Testing instructions

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jkmassel commented Jun 25, 2026 •

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The lint: `lint_swiftui_preview_strings`

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