ui-strings-management

name	ui-strings-management
description	Safe editing and validation of ui_strings.js — prevents JSON parse errors, verifies key coverage, handles nested section structure

UI Strings Management Skill

Context

ui_strings.js is a pure JSON file fetched at runtime from raw.githubusercontent.com/Apomera/AlloFlow/main/ui_strings.js. The app calls JSON.parse() on it — any syntax error (e.g., trailing commas) causes a silent failure leaving UI_STRINGS empty and breaking all localized text.

Validation After Every Edit

After modifying ui_strings.js, always run this validation:

import json
with open('ui_strings.js', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    content = f.read()

# Fix trailing commas (JSON doesn't allow them)
import re
fixed = re.sub(r',(\s*[\]}])', r'\1', content)

try:
    data = json.loads(fixed)
    print(f"✅ Valid JSON: {len(data)} top-level keys")
    if fixed != content:
        with open('ui_strings.js', 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
            f.write(fixed)
        print("⚠️ Fixed trailing commas and saved")
except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
    print(f"❌ INVALID: {e.msg} at L{e.lineno}, col {e.colno}")

Structure

The file is a flat JSON object with nested sections:

{
  "common": { "ok": "OK", "cancel": "Cancel", ... },
  "settings": { "voice": { "label": "Voice" }, ... },
  "word_sounds": { ... },
  "adventure": { ... },
  ...
}

Key Rules

1. No trailing commas — JSON is NOT JavaScript
2. No comments — JSON doesn't support // or /* */
3. Escape unicode properly — Avoid raw surrogate pairs (\uD83C\uDFAF); use the actual emoji character instead
4. Keys must be double-quoted strings
5. After every edit: run the validation script above
6. Test locally: The app fetches from GitHub raw URL, so changes won't appear until pushed to main

Propagating new strings to the 56 language packs

ui_strings.js is the English master. There are 56 pre-built translation packs in lang/*.js (mirrored to prismflow-deploy/public/lang/) that must gain any key you add here, or non-English users see English fallback. The toolchain (see dev-tools/i18n/README.md and lang/README.md for full detail):

• npm run build:lang:resume — adds new keys to every existing pack via the Gemini builder, preserving existing translations verbatim.
• npm run build:lang:manifest — regenerates lang/manifest.json.
• Validators (run by the deploy gate): dev-tools/check_lang_json.cjs (verify:translations-adjacent; ensures every pack is valid JSON) and dev-tools/i18n/check_safety_string_spanglish.cjs (blocks half-translated alerts.*/confirms.* safety strings).
• Community translation corrections arrive via the Cloudflare worker (/submitTranslation) and are applied with dev-tools/i18n/ingest_translation_feedback.cjs --apply (manual review gate).

Document any {placeholders} on the source line — the builder and validators key on them.