Complete language support to all GUI tabs

[Ski90Moo]

Wraps user-facing string literals with tr() across all major tabs and adds a complete Spanish (es) translation file as proof of concept for multi-language support, addressing issue #680.

Tabs covered: Site/Weather Data, Construction Sets, Materials, Schedules, Thermal Zones, Space Types, Loads, Facility, HVAC Systems, Inspector panel IDD fields, Output Variables (1051 names), Simulation Settings, Measures, Run Simulation, and Results Summary.

Key patterns established:

• tr() for compile-time strings in Q_OBJECT classes
• QCoreApplication::translate(IDD/OutputVariables/TaxonomyCategories) for runtime strings from the OpenStudio SDK and taxonomy.xml
• addItem(tr(Display), EnglishData) + currentData() for model-bound combo boxes where SDK values must stay in English
• Bilingual display format for IDD fields and output variable names so engineers can cross-reference EnergyPlus documentation without switching the application language

translations/OpenStudioApp_es.ts grows from ~200 to 3017 entries.
New languages only require a new .ts file with no further C++ changes.

The exception is the Geometry tab HTML files (geometry_editor_start.html and geometry_preview.html) each contain a hardcoded JavaScript dictionary keyed by locale code. We could:

Option A — Keep the Geometry tab HTML as an exception requiring separate edits.

Option B — Improve the architecture (better): Have the C++ side inject the locale into the HTML page at load time via QWebEnginePage::runJavaScript(), and move the translations out of the HTML into the .ts file.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com

Extra testing required

• ScheduleFileInspector - especially the separator
• VariablesTab

[github-actions]

CLA Assistant Lite bot All contributors have signed the CLA ✍️ ✅

[Ski90Moo]

I have read the CLA Document and I hereby sign the CLA

[macumber]

This is awesome @Ski90Moo! I will check this out!

[Ski90Moo]

Thank you @macumber. It is rough, but a good start. I would like your feedback on the html issue.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR expands internationalization across the OpenStudio Application UI by wrapping user-facing strings with Qt translation APIs and adding a significantly more complete Spanish translation as a proof of concept (Issue #680). It also introduces tests to validate the .ts file structure/content and (optionally) runtime .qm translation loading.

Changes:

• Wrapped many GUI string literals in tr() / QCoreApplication::translate() across tabs, inspectors, and grid views.
• Added bilingual display formatting for SDK-driven names (eg. Output Variables, IDD fields) to show Translated (English) when non-English.
• Added a new translation-focused GTest suite and wired it into the app test target.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 98 out of 100 changed files in this pull request and generated 9 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/shared_gui_components/WorkflowView.cpp	Translates “drop measure” placeholder text.
src/shared_gui_components/WorkflowController.cpp	Translates section headers for measure categories.
src/shared_gui_components/OSGridController.cpp	Translates “Custom” category label and apply-button text.
src/shared_gui_components/LocalLibraryView.cpp	Translates tooltips/button labels in the local library footer.
src/shared_gui_components/LocalLibraryController.cpp	Translates taxonomy category names at render time.
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialSimpleGlazingSystemInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialShadeInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialScreenInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialGlazingRefractionExtinctionMethodInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialGlazingInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialGasMixtureInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialGasInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialDaylightRedirectionDeviceInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WindowMaterialBlindInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/WaterUseEquipmentInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/VRFGraphicsItems.cpp	Translates VRF drag/drop placeholder labels.
src/openstudio_lib/VariablesTabView.cpp	Adds translated+bilingual output variable display and localized frequency display with English data values.
src/openstudio_lib/ThermalZonesTabView.cpp	Translates main tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/ThermalZonesGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories via QCoreApplication::translate.
src/openstudio_lib/SteamEquipmentInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/StandardsInformationMaterialWidget.cpp	Translates standards/measure-tags labels.
src/openstudio_lib/StandardsInformationConstructionWidget.cpp	Translates standards/measure-tags labels.
src/openstudio_lib/SpaceTypesTabView.cpp	Translates main tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/SpaceTypesGridView.cpp	Translates headers/categories/filter labels; some tooltips still hardcoded.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesTabController.cpp	Translates spaces sub-tab titles.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesSurfacesGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesSubtabGridView.cpp	Translates filter labels; stores English keys in combo box data for SDK values.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesSubsurfacesGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesSpacesGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesShadingGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesLoadsGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories.
src/openstudio_lib/SpacesInteriorPartitionsGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories.
src/openstudio_lib/SimSettingsTabController.cpp	Translates “Simulation Settings” tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/ServiceWaterGridItems.cpp	Translates tooltips and drop-zone placeholder text.
src/openstudio_lib/ScriptsTabView.cpp	Translates “Measures” tab title and sync button strings.
src/openstudio_lib/SchedulesTabView.cpp	Translates schedules sub-tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/SchedulesTabController.cpp	Translates schedules sub-tab titles.
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleSetInspectorView.cpp	Translates schedule set inspector section labels.
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleOthersView.cpp	Translates “Schedule Others” type names returned to the list view.
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleOthersController.cpp	Translates unsupported-action message text.
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleFileInspectorView.cpp	Translates labels and attempts to translate separator choices (but bind() will overwrite).
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleDialog.cpp	Translates dialog labels and “None/unitless” strings.
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleDayView.hpp	Adds Q_DECLARE_TR_FUNCTIONS for QGraphicsItem subclasses to enable tr().
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleDayView.cpp	Translates schedule day UI strings/tooltips and keyboard prompt text.
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleConstantInspectorView.cpp	Translates labels (one includes leading whitespace in the source string).
src/openstudio_lib/ScheduleCompactInspectorView.cpp	Translates labels.
src/openstudio_lib/RunTabView.cpp	Translates run tab title, button/checkbox labels, and status text.
src/openstudio_lib/ResultsTabView.cpp	Translates Results UI labels and some report names; “Custom Report N” uses concatenation.
src/openstudio_lib/ResultsTabController.cpp	Translates “Results Summary” tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/RefrigerationGraphicsItems.cpp	Translates refrigeration drop-zone placeholder text.
src/openstudio_lib/PeopleInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/OtherEquipmentInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/OSItemSelectorButtons.cpp	Translates toolbar button tooltips.
src/openstudio_lib/OSDropZone.hpp	Changes default text arg to empty so ctor can apply translated default.
src/openstudio_lib/OSDropZone.cpp	Applies translated default “Drag From Library” when text is empty.
src/openstudio_lib/OSDocument.cpp	Translates left-side main tab button labels.
src/openstudio_lib/MaterialsView.cpp	Translates materials category names returned to list view.
src/openstudio_lib/MaterialRoofVegetationInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/MaterialNoMassInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/MaterialInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/MaterialAirGapInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/LuminaireInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/LoopLibraryDialog.cpp	Translates HVAC library dialog titles/buttons/system names.
src/openstudio_lib/LoadsView.cpp	Translates loads category names returned to list view.
src/openstudio_lib/LightsInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/library/geometry_editor_start.html	Adds an in-HTML Spanish translation dictionary + DOM rewrite for headings/paragraphs.
src/openstudio_lib/InternalMassInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/HVACSystemsTabView.cpp	Translates main tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/HVACSystemsController.cpp	Translates system selector entries and HVAC type labels; translates some drop-zone text.
src/openstudio_lib/HotWaterEquipmentInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/GridItem.cpp	Translates drop-zone placeholder and “Supply/Demand Equipment” labels.
src/openstudio_lib/GeometryTabController.cpp	Translates geometry tab title and sub-tab titles.
src/openstudio_lib/GeometryPreviewView.cpp	Injects locale into embedded web content; translates some UI strings.
src/openstudio_lib/GeometryEditorView.cpp	Injects locale into embedded editor; translates most UI strings and some dialogs.
src/openstudio_lib/GasEquipmentInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/FacilityTabView.cpp	Translates facility tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/FacilityTabController.cpp	Translates facility sub-tab titles.
src/openstudio_lib/FacilityStoriesGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories and filter label.
src/openstudio_lib/FacilityShadingGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories and uses English keys in filter combo data.
src/openstudio_lib/FacilityExteriorEquipmentGridView.cpp	Translates grid headers/categories and view titles.
src/openstudio_lib/ElectricEquipmentInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionsView.cpp	Translates constructions category names returned to list view.
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionsTabController.cpp	Translates constructions sub-tab titles and main tab title.
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionInternalSourceInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels and drop-zone text (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels and drop-zone text.
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionFfactorGroundFloorInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionCfactorUndergroundWallInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/ConstructionAirBoundaryInspectorView.cpp	Translates inspector labels and comments (and file gained a BOM).
src/openstudio_lib/BuildingInspectorView.cpp	Translates building inspector labels.
src/openstudio_app/test/Translation_GTest.cpp	Adds tests to validate .ts content and optionally .qm runtime translation.
src/openstudio_app/CMakeLists.txt	Adds Translation_GTest.cpp to the test sources.
src/model_editor/InspectorGadget.cpp	Adds bilingual IDD field display names with runtime translation lookup.

---

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[Ski90Moo]

Done — all C++ hardcoded strings are now wrapped with tr():

• SpaceTypesGridView.cpp tooltip was already tr()-wrapped earlier in the PR
• GeometryEditorView.cpp "Debug" button label wrapped (commit d239658)
• GeometryPreviewView.cpp Geometry Diagnostics checkbox tooltip wrapped (commit d239658)

The HTML geometry files (geometry_editor_start.html, geometry_preview.html) still contain untranslated JavaScript strings, but these require the QWebEnginePage::runJavaScript() injection approach — deferred to a follow-up PR by agreement with macumber.

[macumber]

I saw some of tooltips translated

line 421: addSelectColumn(Heading(tr("All"), false, false, checkbox), tr("Check to select this row").toStdString());

but others not

line 1025: addSelectColumn(Heading(tr("All"), false, false, checkbox), "Check to select this row", DataSource(allLoads, true));

We should translate them all right?

[Ski90Moo]

Yes, I missed these, good catch. Spanish has some similarities to english, so I probably missed a few. I will go back through with something more obvious like Korean or Arabic.

[Ski90Moo]

Fixed — both instances now wrapped with tr(). The one macumber pointed out was corrected in commit 118457a1. Both uses now read tr("Check to select this row").toStdString().

[macumber]

This is really cool, I just wonder how we will be able to maintain this. The Translation test could possibly loop over each IddObject and verify that there is an entry for each one?

Same concern for the OutputVariables

[Ski90Moo]

That was one my concerns as well. I did a handful of them, but I could imagine the list of these objects would be enormous and difficult to maintain. It also makes the .ts file huge; no small task for the language contributors to review. I envision it would be more of a reactionary process whereby the contributors review the general GUI stuff, but we would get feedback as users stumble upon poorly translated objects.

The OutputVariables should be complete though. I will look into modifying the Translation test.

[Ski90Moo]

Good call. The OutputVariable gap is fixed — the original entries only had Zone X prefixed names, but outputVariableNames() returns bare names (e.g. Lights Electricity Energy). Added 359 bare-name entries auto-derived from the Zone translations, plus specific Site/Surface/People/Daylighting entries.

For IDD fields: all fields now have translations across all 18 language .ts files, generated via Claude API batch translation. Two complementary tools maintain coverage:

• add_idd_skeleton.py — developer maintenance tool. Run after an SDK update to add skeleton entries for any new IDD fields, then run translate_skeleton.py to batch-translate them.
• Translation_ts.IddCoverageAllLanguages GTest — uses IddFactory::instance() to enumerate every IddObject and its fields, then checks that each unique field name has a source entry in the IDD context of every OpenStudioApp_*.ts file. Fails with a per-language list of missing fields if any file is out of sync.

The test detects drift; the script fixes it. They run independently.

[macumber]

Did you forget to add add_idd_skeleton.py and translate_skeleton.py to the pr?

[Ski90Moo]

Added in commit 44b3e7d7. The two scripts are now in the repo root:

• add_idd_skeleton.py — scans OS_*_FieldEnums.hxx under the OpenStudio build tree to find field names not yet in the IDD context and inserts empty <message> skeleton entries. IDD directory is auto-detected by glob or passed as a CLI argument.
• translate_skeleton.py — batch-translates those unfinished entries via the Anthropic Messages Batches API (reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY from the environment).

The IddCoverageAllLanguages test added in this PR already provides the CI enforcement side: it loops over every IDD object's fields via IddFactory and fails if any field name is missing from the IDD context in a .ts file.

[macumber]

Can this be simplified?

[Ski90Moo]

The QCoreApplication::translate("TaxonomyCategories", ...) is required here because the translations are stored under the "TaxonomyCategories" context (not the class name). Even though LibraryTypeItemDelegate has Q_OBJECT, using plain tr() would resolve to context "openstudio::LibraryTypeItemDelegate" — a different bucket. Moving to tr() would require renaming all those context entries in every .ts file, which is out of scope here. We could add a Q_DECLARE_TR_FUNCTIONS(TaxonomyCategories) but that conflicts with the existing Q_OBJECT. Current verbosity is the correct trade-off.

[macumber]

I was mostly wondering if .toUtf8().constData() was needed?

[Ski90Moo]

Yes, .toUtf8().constData() is required. QCoreApplication::translate() takes const char*, and item->name() returns a QString. The chain QString → .toUtf8() → QByteArray → .constData() → const char* is the standard Qt idiom — there is no shorter safe path (e.g. qPrintable() uses local-8-bit encoding rather than UTF-8, which can mangle non-ASCII taxonomy names on some systems).

To avoid repeating the pattern at every call site, it is now wrapped in a static helper (commit 251713b2):

static QString trTaxonomy(const QString& name) {
  return QCoreApplication::translate("TaxonomyCategories", name.toUtf8().constData());
}

The three call sites now read simply trTaxonomy(item->name()).

[Ski90Moo]

One additional note on the design: if either a new BCL taxonomy category or a new name under an existing category is added in the future, trTaxonomy() will still look up the name in the "TaxonomyCategories" context. If no entry exists in the .ts file for that name, Qt automatically falls back to displaying the English source string — so non-English users will see the untranslated name in plain English, which immediately signals that a new .ts entry is needed. No special detection logic is required; the gap is visible as soon as someone runs a non-English locale.

[macumber]

This looks pretty good @Ski90Moo, thanks! I found a few anti-patterns I'd like to avoid, hopefully you can address those. I am also not sure if I like the approach for the html files, maybe we skip those for now?

I made an internal PR at #874 which seems to complete the build CI actions, maybe those are failing here because this is an external PR? In any case, you can fix the cppcheck and Clang Format failures on your PR.

[macumber]

One last question, did you get Claude to actually do the string translations, or just to add the tr wrappers throughout the app? Do you think Claude could do the string translations for all the languages?

[Ski90Moo]

All addressed:

• Removed all #define MACRO tr(...) patterns across 13 grid view files — all column header strings are now inline tr() calls throughout
• Changed return types in MaterialsView, ScheduleOthersView, and ConstructionsView to std::vector<std::pair<IddObjectType, QString>> with direct tr() calls
• Reverted HTML geometry files — agreed to skip the in-HTML JavaScript approach for now and pursue the proper Qt injection approach in a follow-up PR
• Copilot bugs fixed: signal connection order (VariablesTabView), dead pre-bind addItem() calls (ScheduleFileInspectorView), string concat → tr("Custom Report %1").arg(n) (ResultsTabView), leading space removed (ScheduleConstantInspectorView)
• clang-format run on all 35 modified C++ files

[Ski90Moo]

Yes — Claude did both the tr() wrapping and the translations. The batch API approach scales well: all 18 languages are now in this PR, generated via Claude Haiku Batches API at roughly $3–4 total cost. Each language gets ~7,000 translations covering UI strings, IDD field names, and OutputVariable display names. Adding a new language in the future is a one-command operation (translate_new_languages.py).

Languages added: Arabic, Catalan, German, Greek, Persian/Farsi, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese.

[macumber]

Could this, and the other instances in this file, be replaced by regular tr since it is already in class SingleZoneSPMView?

[Ski90Moo]

Done in commit 251713b2. SingleZoneSPMView (and the 4 other view classes in that file — ScheduledSPMView, OAResetSPMView, AirLoopHVACUnitaryHeatPumpAirToAirControlView, NoSupplyAirTempControlView) are simple QWidget subclasses without signals/slots, so adding full Q_OBJECT would be unwarranted overhead. Instead, Q_DECLARE_TR_FUNCTIONS(openstudio::SingleZoneSPMView) was added to each class in HVACSystemsView.hpp — this macro provides tr() with the fully-qualified class name as context, matching the existing .ts file entries. All QCoreApplication::translate("openstudio::SingleZoneSPMView", ...) calls (and the equivalents for the other four classes) are now plain tr() in HVACSystemsView.cpp.

[macumber]

Can this, and other instances in this file, be replaced by regular tr since they are in class SpacesSubtabGridView?

[Ski90Moo]

Done in commit 251713b2. SpacesSubtabGridView has Q_OBJECT, so tr() resolves to context "openstudio::SpacesSubtabGridView" — matching the existing .ts entries. All five QCoreApplication::translate("openstudio::SpacesSubtabGridView", ...) calls are now plain tr(), and the now-unused #include <QCoreApplication> was removed.

[macumber]

Looks really good @Ski90Moo, I resolved all of my comments except for a couple, can you check them out?

Can you also run 'ci/clang-format.sh HEAD origin/develop to apply the clang format updates?

Finally, can you fix the cppcheck error [src/openstudio_app/test/Translation_GTest.cpp:47]:(style),[constVariable],Variable 'candidates' can be declared as const array?

I am going to do some testing, @jmarrec do you want to review and test before merging? My thought is that we can merge and then send out a link to test the next RC to all of the people who have shown interest in internationalization.

[Ski90Moo]

Done — all three items addressed:

• clang-format: ran ci/clang-format.sh HEAD origin/develop, corrected 20 files, committed in 251713b2.
• cppcheck (candidates not const): fixed in 251713b2 — openstudio::path candidates[] is now const openstudio::path candidates[] at line 47 of Translation_GTest.cpp.
• Unresolved review threads: checked and addressed all five — replies posted on each thread.