Translation

In this article we are going to show you how to use Google's Translation API. The process of embedding the functionality in your .NET application is very easy once you have enabled the feature from your GCP console.

Step 1: Create the WPF Application

Create a standard WPF application and add 2 RadComboBoxes, 2 RadWaterMarkTextBoxes and a RadButton. The RadComboBoxes will provide a choice for source and target language of the translation, the RadWaterMarkTextBoxes will hold the text that has to be translated and its translation in the chosen language. The RadButton will make a call to Google's Translation API through a Command.

Example 1: Defining the view

• XAML

<Grid> 
    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 
        <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> 
        <ColumnDefinition /> 
 
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> 
    <Grid.RowDefinitions> 
        <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> 
        <RowDefinition /> 
    </Grid.RowDefinitions> 
 
    <StackPanel > 
        <TextBlock Text="Translate from:" /> 
        <telerik:RadComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Languages}" DisplayMemberPath="Name" SelectedValue="{Binding SourceLanguageCode}" SelectedValuePath="Code" /> 
        <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox Text="{Binding SourceLanguageText, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" WatermarkContent="Text to translate"/> 
    </StackPanel> 
 
    <StackPanel  Grid.Column="1"> 
        <TextBlock Text="Translate to:" /> 
        <telerik:RadComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Languages}" DisplayMemberPath="Name" SelectedValue="{Binding TargetLanguageCode}" SelectedValuePath="Code"/> 
        <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox Text="{Binding TranslatedLanguageText, Mode=TwoWay}" WatermarkContent="Translated Text" IsReadOnly="True"/> 
    </StackPanel> 
 
    <telerik:RadButton Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Content="Translate" Command="{Binding TranslateTextCommand}"  VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/> 
</Grid> 

Step 2: Install the NuGet package

Open the NuGet Package Manager and install the Google.Cloud.Translation.V2 package.

Step 3: Define the ViewModel

The next step is to create the ViewModel. It will need a TranslationClient object which will be used for calling the Translation API. We also need to implement the command that will call the Translation API via the TranslationClient.

Example 2: Defining the ViewModel

• C#
• VB.NET

public class ViewModel : ViewModelBase 
{ 
    TranslationClient client = null; 
    private IList<Language> languages; 
 
    private string sourceLanguageText = string.Empty; 
    private string translatedLanguageText; 
    private string sourceLanguageCode; 
    private string targetLanguageCode; 
 
    public ViewModel() 
    { 
        var credentials = GoogleCredential.GetApplicationDefault(); 
        this.client = TranslationClient.Create(credentials); 
        this.Languages = client.ListLanguages("en"); 
 
        this.TranslateTextCommand = new DelegateCommand(OnTranslateText, OnCanTranslateText); 
        this.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute(); 
    } 
 
    public DelegateCommand TranslateTextCommand { get; set; } 
 
    public string SourceLanguageText 
    { 
        get 
        { 
            return this.sourceLanguageText; 
        } 
 
        set 
        { 
            if(this.sourceLanguageText != value) 
            { 
                this.sourceLanguageText = value; 
                this.OnPropertyChanged("SourceLanguageText"); 
                this.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute(); 
            } 
        } 
    } 
 
    public string SourceLanguageCode 
    { 
        get { return sourceLanguageCode; } 
        set 
        { 
            sourceLanguageCode = value; 
            this.OnPropertyChanged("SourceLanguageCode"); 
            this.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute(); 
        } 
    } 
 
    public string TargetLanguageCode 
    { 
        get { return targetLanguageCode; } 
        set 
        { 
            targetLanguageCode = value; 
            this.OnPropertyChanged("TargetLanguageCode"); 
            this.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute(); 
        } 
    } 
 
    public IList<Language> Languages 
    { 
        get { return this.languages; } 
        set { this.languages = value; } 
    } 
 
    public string TranslatedLanguageText 
    { 
        get 
        { 
            return this.translatedLanguageText; 
        } 
 
        set 
        { 
            if (this.translatedLanguageText != value) 
            { 
                this.translatedLanguageText = value; 
                this.OnPropertyChanged("TranslatedLanguageText"); 
            } 
        } 
    } 
 
    private bool OnCanTranslateText(object obj) 
    { 
        var canTranslate = this.SourceLanguageText.Length > 0 && this.SourceLanguageCode != null && this.TargetLanguageCode != null; 
 
        return canTranslate; 
    } 
 
    private void OnTranslateText(object obj) 
    { 
        this.TranslatedLanguageText = client.TranslateText(this.SourceLanguageText, this.TargetLanguageCode, sourceLanguage : this.SourceLanguageCode).TranslatedText; 
    } 
} 

Public Class ViewModel 
Inherits ViewModelBase 
 
    Private client As TranslationClient = Nothing 
    Private _languages As IList(Of Language) 
 
    Private _sourceLanguageText As String = String.Empty 
    Private _translatedLanguageText As String 
    Private _sourceLanguageCode As String 
    Private _targetLanguageCode As String 
 
    Public Sub New() 
        Dim credentials = GoogleCredential.GetApplicationDefault() 
        Me.client = TranslationClient.Create(credentials) 
        Me.Languages = client.ListLanguages("en") 
 
        Me.TranslateTextCommand = New DelegateCommand(AddressOf OnTranslateText, AddressOf OnCanTranslateText) 
        Me.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute() 
    End Sub 
 
    Public Property TranslateTextCommand() As DelegateCommand 
 
    Public Property SourceLanguageText() As String 
        Get 
            Return Me._sourceLanguageText 
        End Get 
 
        Set(ByVal value As String) 
            If Me._sourceLanguageText <> value Then 
                Me._sourceLanguageText = value 
                Me.OnPropertyChanged("SourceLanguageText") 
                Me.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute() 
            End If 
        End Set 
    End Property 
 
    Public Property SourceLanguageCode() As String 
        Get 
            Return _sourceLanguageCode 
        End Get 
        Set(ByVal value As String) 
            _sourceLanguageCode = value 
            Me.OnPropertyChanged("SourceLanguageCode") 
            Me.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute() 
        End Set 
    End Property 
 
    Public Property TargetLanguageCode() As String 
        Get 
            Return _targetLanguageCode 
        End Get 
        Set(ByVal value As String) 
            _targetLanguageCode = value 
            Me.OnPropertyChanged("TargetLanguageCode") 
            Me.TranslateTextCommand.InvalidateCanExecute() 
        End Set 
    End Property 
 
    Public Property Languages() As IList(Of Language) 
        Get 
            Return Me._languages 
        End Get 
        Set(ByVal value As IList(Of Language)) 
            Me._languages = value 
        End Set 
    End Property 
 
    Public Property TranslatedLanguageText() As String 
        Get 
            Return Me._translatedLanguageText 
        End Get 
 
        Set(ByVal value As String) 
            If Me._translatedLanguageText <> value Then 
                Me._translatedLanguageText = value 
                Me.OnPropertyChanged("TranslatedLanguageText") 
            End If 
        End Set 
    End Property 
 
    Private Function OnCanTranslateText(ByVal obj As Object) As Boolean 
        Dim canTranslate = Me.SourceLanguageText.Length > 0 AndAlso Me.SourceLanguageCode IsNot Nothing AndAlso Me.TargetLanguageCode IsNot Nothing 
 
        Return canTranslate 
    End Function 
 
    Private Sub OnTranslateText(ByVal obj As Object) 
        Me.TranslatedLanguageText = client.TranslateText(Me.SourceLanguageText, Me.TargetLanguageCode, sourceLanguage :=Me.SourceLanguageCode).TranslatedText 
    End Sub 
End Class 

Note that the ItemsSource of the RadComboBoxes is a list of Language objects returned from the ListLanguages method of the TranslationClient. The Language objects have two important properties: Name and Code. The Name property is used as the value for the DisplayMemberPath property of the RadComboBoxes. The Code property on the other hand is stored in the SourceLanguageCode and TargetLanguageCode properties which are passed as parameters to the TranslateText method of the TranslationClient.

In order for the GoogleCredential.GetApplicationDefault method to get your credentials, you need to have a GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable set pointing to the JSON file downloaded when creating a service account.

All that is left is to set the DataContext to the ViewModel.

Example 3: Set the DataContext

• C#
• VB.NET

public MainWindow() 
{ 
    InitializeComponent(); 
 
    this.DataContext = new ViewModel(); 
} 

Public Sub New() 
    InitializeComponent() 
 
    Me.DataContext = New ViewModel() 
End Sub 

Figure 1: Result from example after translation in the Office2016 theme

See Also