Translation

LVGL supports two ways of handling translations:

Overview

LVGL supports two ways of handling translations:

• lv_i18n: A comprehensive tool that extracts translatable strings from C files into YAML files, and generates C translation files from them. It also supports plural forms. See its README for details.
• lv_translation: A simpler yet more flexible solution that allows adding translations statically or dynamically. This is the method documented here.

Add Translations

Static Translations

If most translations are known at compile time, they can be defined using string arrays:

/* Arrays are defined `const` to place them in program space instead of RAM. */
static const char * const languages[] = {"en", "de", "es", NULL};
static const char * const tags[] = {"tiger", "lion", "rabbit", "elephant", NULL};
static const char * const translations[] = {
    "The Tiger", "Der Tiger", "El Tigre",
    "The Lion", "Der Löwe", "El León",
    "The Rabbit", "Das Kaninchen", "El Conejo",
    "The Elephant", "Der Elefant", "El Elefante",
};

lv_translation_add_static(languages, tags, translations);

This method uses only a little extra RAM, as only the pointers to the strings are stored.

Dynamic Translations

If translations are only available at runtime (e.g., from files, serial ports, or online sources), they can be added dynamically.

This approach involves memory allocation. See the example at the bottom of this page for reference.

Select a Language

Once translations are registered, use:

to set the current language. The parameter must match one of the language names provided during registration.

Translate Strings

To retrieve a translation for a given tag, use:

• lv_translation_get("tag")
• or the shorthand: lv_tr("tag")

These return a translated string which can be used with widgets:

lv_label_set_text(label, lv_tr("settings"));
lv_dropdown_set_options(dd, lv_tr("color_list"));

Fallbacks

If a tag exists but the translation for the selected language is missing the tag itself will be returned.

If the tag is not found at all, the tag itself will be used as a fallback as well.

Support in Widgets

Several Widgets provide a convenient API to support translations. These functions also update the texts if the target language changes. Some examples:

• lv_label_set_translation_tag(label, "some_tag")
• lv_tabview_set_tab_translation_tag(tab, "some_tag")

For more information check the documentation page of the given widget.

Dynamically Updating UI Text

When lv_translation_set_language("language") is called, LVGL sends LV_EVENT_TRANSLATION_LANGUAGE_CHANGED to every widget, allowing you to update text automatically.

The new language can be retrieved by either calling lv_translation_get_language or by getting the event parameter in the event callback with lv_event_get_param(e)

Basic Example

static void on_language_change(lv_event_t * e)
{
    lv_obj_t * label = lv_event_get_target_obj(e);
    const char * tag = (const char *) lv_event_get_user_data(e);
    lv_label_set_text(label, lv_tr(tag));

    /* You can get the new language with `lv_event_get_param`*/
    /* const char * language = (const char *) lv_event_get_param(e); */
    /* or with `lv_translation_get_language` */
    /* const char * language = lv_translation_get_language(); */
}

lv_obj_t * label = lv_label_create(lv_screen_active());
lv_obj_add_event_cb(label, on_language_change, LV_EVENT_TRANSLATION_LANGUAGE_CHANGED, "tag1");

See the the bottom of this page for a complete example.

Example

Simple translation example

Dynamic language selection

API