Google Translator

• Download source code - 13 Kb
• Download demo application (binaries only) - 13 Kb

Note:
GoogleTranslator was originally written when screen scraping was the only way to access Google's online translation tools. As has been rightly pointed out in this article's forum, a more modern approach would be to use Google's AJAX APIs. See this link for more information. This screen scraper version of GoogleTranslator continues to be maintained at the request of CP readers.

What is it?

GoogleTranslator is an object that allows you to translate text using the power of Google's online language tools. GoogleTranslator is an example of a WebResourceProvider and makes use of the StringParser utility class, both of which are published elsewhere at CodeProject. The demo app also performs a reverse translation, which can often appear amusing when compared to the original text. The app can be used as a poor man's resource translator for simple phrases, but you'd be wise to confirm the translation with a native speaker before using the results.

How do I use it?

You use GoogleTranslator by initializing it and calling its Translate() method.

// Initialize the translator
using RavSoft.GoogleTranslator;
Translator t = new GoogleTranslator();
t.SourceLanguage = "English";
t.TargetLanguage = "French";
t.SourceText = "Hello, how are you?";

// Translate the text
t.Translate();
Console.WriteLine (t.Translation);

How it works

GoogleTranslator works by posting a request to Google's online translation form and parsing the results. All the "heavy lifting" is done by the WebResourceProvider class, described elsewhere at CodeProject. WebResourceProvider fetches the content from Google and offers GoogleTranslator an opportunity to parse it.

  /// <summary>
  /// Parses the fetched content.
  /// </summary>
  protected override void parseContent()
  {
      // Initialize the scraper
      this.Translation = string.Empty;
      string strContent = this.Content;
      RavSoft.StringParser parser = new RavSoft.StringParser (strContent);

      // Scrape the translation
      string strTranslation = string.Empty;
      if (parser.skipToEndOf ("")) {
              if (parser.extractTo("", ref strTranslation)) {
                  strTranslation = StringParser.removeHtml (strTranslation);
              }
          }
      }
  }

As you can see, the parsing logic is very simple! GoogleTranslator uses the the StringParser class to extract the translated text.

Revision History

• 10 Mar 2010
  Added support for current full language set.
  Fixed bug that limited translation to first sentence.
   
• 15 Feb 2010
  Even more parsing tweakage.
   
• 28 Mar 2009
  More parsing tweakage.
   
• 20 Mar 2007
  Tweaked parsing logic to conform to changes at Google's website.
   
• 15 Jan 2006
  Initial version.

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)