Administration

Job Sync

Content is machine translated from English by Phrase Language AI.

Strings integration is on the job level and connects Phrase TMS and Phrase Strings. The integration allows the connection of translation jobs.

Access to both TMS and Strings applications is required.

Jobs created and started in Strings with In progress status can be imported to TMS for translation, and sent back to Strings after translation. By default, jobs sent from Strings to TMS are imported as XLIFF 2.0 files. To move content between both products, TMS project language and Strings job locale codes must match with the Strings project default language being the source language as defined in TMS.

The number of segments created in TMS after importing a Strings job can be different from the original number of keys in the following cases:

  • Keys are marked as excluded in Strings. Excluded keys are not imported.

  • The Segment XLIFF option has been enabled in the File import settings for XLIFF 2.0 when creating the job in TMS. In this case, the number of segments may be higher than the number of keys in Strings.

Strings keys can contain HTML entities. When setting up the connector in TMS, enable the option Enclose HTML content in CDATA to preserve HTML entities instead of displaying the corresponding characters in TMS.

Using the connector, multiple projects and files can be monitored in APC. Each project requires individual monitoring within a single APC.

ICU messages and CLDR plural forms

When sending Strings jobs containing ICU messages or plural forms to TMS for translation, enable the Parse ICU messages option in the XLIFF 2.0 file import settings or in the TMS project templates.

Use Cases

There are a number of use cases for the connector:

  • TMS Project managers can add files directly to TMS projects from an online repository.

  • Set up the Phrase TMS submitter portal to allow Submitters to add files to requests directly from Phrase Strings.

  • Use TMS automated project creation (APC) to have new projects automatically created when a change in the last modified date is detected for monitored files or a folder.

    • The monitored project path must be selected all the way to the jobs folder (e.g. space/project/main/jobs).

    • Selected files are imported the very first time APC runs.

    • APC is triggered by the following job updates:

      • Newly added keys or changes to existing keys

      • Modified job's due date in Strings

      Note

      Reopening jobs does not count as an update for APC.

    • If Create a new project everytime is selected when setting up APC, the remote online repository can be monitored not only for source, but also target updates

      If choosing to monitor target updates, any changes made to the target copy in the online repository will automatically update the translation memory in Phrase TMS.

    • If Target updates made in the remote entity are automatically saved in the TM is selected, key text changes in the Strings target language are automatically updated in the TMS translation memories used in the relevant APC Project.

  • The TMS connector API can be used to automate steps otherwise performed manually through the UI. Webhooks can be used to have 3rd party systems notified about certain events (for example, a job status change).

Phrase TMS Settings

  1. From the Settings Setup_gear.png page, scroll down to the Integrations section.

  2. Click on Connectors.

    The Connectors page opens.

  3. Click New connector.

    The Create connector page opens.

  4. Provide a name for the connection and change the Type to Phrase Strings .

  5. Provide a name and select Phrase Strings as the type.

  6. Select an import mode (whether target strings should be downloaded and imported to TMS or not).

    If target strings are not imported, the XLIFF 2.0 file can be further segmented if Segment XLIFF is selected in the File import settings for XLIFF 2.0 files.

    • Enable or disable the following import options as required:

      • Enclose HTML content in CDATA

        • The option ensures HTML entities are wrapped in CDATA to be preserved during the transfer between Strings and TMS.

        • The option allows to import content combining ICU syntax and inline HTML elements.

      • Import due dates from jobs in Phrase Strings

      • Indicates whether existing translations should be updated with the file content

        Disable to prevent existing translations from being updated with the file content.

      • Indicates whether new keys should be created and existing keys should be updated

        Disable to prevent the creation of new keys and updates to existing keys.

      • Update target translations only if the source translations of the uploaded multilingual file match the stored translations

        Translations that do not align with the latest source content are excluded during synchronization. This helps maintain consistency between source text and translations, avoiding outdated or incorrect translations.

  7. Select an export mode.

    If Job level is selected, only when the last locale is uploaded will the job be marked as completed.

  8. Enter an access token obtained from Strings.

  9. Click Test connection.

    A checkmark will appear if the connection was successful. A red exclamation point will appear if it wasn't. Hover over the icon to see additional details.

  10. Language Mapping is presented and can be customized if required. Changes in language mapping will not affect existing jobs.

    The list paginates five projects at a time with projects being sorted alphabetically; first from A-Z (capitalized) and then a-z (lower case).

  11. Click Save.

    The connector is added to the list on the Connectors page.

Supported in the integration:

  • TMS project templates

  • TMS workflows

  • Job briefing

  • Job due date:

    Due date set in Strings will update the project deadline in TMS. If there are multiple different deadlines, the furthest one will be applied to the TMS project.

Transferred from Strings to TMS as a project reference:

  • Key descriptions

    Transferred from Strings and displayed as the context note in the Context note pane of the TMS CAT editors.

  • Max. key character length

    Transferred from Strings and displayed within the Context note pane of the TMS CAT editors.

  • Screenshots

    To display screenshots from Strings in the Context note pane of the TMS CAT editors, enable the option Allow loading of external content in Phrase CAT editor under the Access and Security section of TMS project settings.

  • Custom metadata in supported file formats:

    • .XLSX

    • .CSV

    • .XLIFF 2.0

Monitoring Target Updates made in Strings via APC

To monitor target updates made in Strings via APC, follow these steps:

  1. When setting up a APC, select Create a new project everytime.

    This enables the monitoring of the online repository for target updates made in Strings.

  2. In the Automations section of the APC setup, select Target updates made in the remote entity are automatically saved in the TM.

Changes made to the target language content in Strings will be automatically saved to the Phrase TMS translation memory when the APC monitoring is triggered.

It is possible to overwrite the translation memory updates by modifying the target segments in Phrase TMS editor. These updates will be exported back to Strings when the Phrase TMS job is completed.

Job Sync Troubleshooting

The table below outlines common issues that users may encounter when using the Strings integration. It provides possible causes and solutions for troubleshooting.

Issue

Cause(s)

Solution

Warning message related to NMTOKEN in TMS jobs

Key names contain undesired characters (e.g. spaces)

Users can still handle translation content and export it back to Strings, despite the warning message.

Keys in TMS are empty

Job contains keys without source text in the source language

Either:

  • Ignore the segments.

  • Remove the keys from the Strings job and re-import the source from the online repository.

APC is not creating projects/processing new jobs

Language codes mismatch

Ensure that language codes in Strings match those in the TMS project.

When APC is set as a continuous project, any changes made to the project template after project creation will not be applied to existing projects. Therefore, changes must be made directly to the continuous projects.

APC considers the job/locale as processed

If project template/APC settings are modified after starting the job, it may be considered as processed in the APC history. Therefore, an update to the job may be necessary to qualify it for the next iteration.

Either:

  • Add a new key to the job, or update an existing key of the job

  • Change the job's due date in Strings

429 Too many requests error (Strings API limit)

Reduce the number of APCs and lower the monitoring frequency.

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