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🔑 | Localization Bait Inventory: Training "Cheat Sheet" for "Notes" Android Native App

This document lists all the deliberate localization "traps" implemented in the Notes app. Use this to guide students in identifying why hard-coding is problematic and how to properly implement Android L10n.

Project Github Repo here.

1. Hard-coded UI Strings (The "Low Hanging Fruit")

  • Location: All screens (AboutScreen.kt, NoteListScreen.kt, NoteEditorScreen.kt, SettingsScreen.kt)
  • The Bait: Plain text strings like "About Notes", "Save", "Search Notes…", and "Delete".
  • The Lesson: Basic translation. These must be moved to res/values/strings.xml so the system can swap them based on the user's language.

2. The Plurals Trap (Manual Logic)

  • Location: NoteListScreen.kt
  • The Bait: text = if (notesCount == 1) "1 note" else "$notesCount notes"
  • The Lesson: English only has two plural forms (one/other), but languages like Arabic have six, and Russian has three. Hard-coded if/else logic cannot scale.
  • Solution: Refactor to use res/values/plurals.xml.

3. Date & Time Formatting

  • Location: NoteListScreen.kt (inside NoteItem)
  • The Bait: SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm", Locale.US)
  • The Lesson: Date order (MM/DD vs DD/MM) and clock formats (12h vs 24h) are regional. Forcing Locale.US makes the app feel "foreign" in most of the world.
  • Solution: Use java.text.DateFormat formatters that respect the system locale.

4. Text Embedded in Assets (The "Icon Trap")

  • Location: res/drawable/ic_app_icon.xml
  • The Bait: The vector paths draw the literal English characters "N-O-T-E-S" and "L10N".
  • The Lesson: When an app name is translated, an icon containing English text becomes misleading.
  • Solution: Either use symbolic icons (no text) or use Resource Qualifiers (e.g., drawable-zh/) to swap assets.

5. String Concatenation & Templates

  • Location: AboutScreen.kt
  • The Bait: text = "Version " + "1.0.0"
  • The Lesson: In some languages, the word for "Version" comes after the number. Concatenation locks the word order.
  • Solution: Use string resources with placeholders: Version %s.

6. Logic Keys as Display Strings

  • Location: NotesViewModel.kt (Enums and Tags)
  • The Bait: Tags like "Work", "Personal", and "Important" are used as both database keys and UI labels.
  • The Lesson: Translating a UI label that is also used as a logic key will break the app's functionality.
  • Solution: Separate internal IDs (stable) from display labels (localized).

7. Cultural Sorting & Search

  • Location: NotesViewModel.kt
  • The Bait: it.title.contains(query, ignoreCase = true) and "Title (A-Z)" sorting.
  • The Lesson: Alphabetical order varies by script. Simple case-insensitivity fails for accented characters (like é vs E).
  • Solution: Use java.text.Collator for locale-aware sorting.

8. UI Expansion & Layout Breaking

  • Location: NoteListScreen.kt (Grid Mode)
  • The Bait: The 2-column grid layout assumes English-length text.
  • The Lesson: German and French words are often 30% longer than English.
  • Challenge: Students must ensure the UI doesn't "break" or overlap when words expand.

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