Convert QCH to TS

Understanding QCH and TS file formats

QCH files are Qt Compressed Help files, commonly used to store documentation in a compressed format for the Qt framework. These files are typically generated from QHP (Qt Help Project) files and are used by Qt Assistant and other Qt-based applications to provide searchable, structured help content.

TS files are Qt Linguist Translation Source files. They are XML-based and used for storing translations of user interface text in Qt applications. Developers and translators use TS files to manage and localize application strings.

Why convert QCH to TS?

Converting a QCH file to a TS file is not a standard workflow, as these formats serve different purposes. However, you might want to extract translatable text from documentation (QCH) to create or update translation files (TS) for localization purposes.

How to convert QCH to TS

There is no direct, automated tool for converting QCH files to TS files, but you can follow these steps:

1. Extract content from QCH: Use the qhelpgenerator tool (part of the Qt SDK) to extract the HTML content from the QCH file. Alternatively, use qch-extract (an open-source utility) to unpack the QCH file.
2. Identify translatable text: Review the extracted HTML files and identify the text that needs translation.
3. Create or update TS files: Use Qt Linguist or Linguist command-line tools to create a new TS file. You can manually add the extracted strings or use scripts to automate the process.

Recommended software for QCH to TS conversion

• qch-extract: Open-source tool to extract HTML from QCH files. Available on GitHub.
• Qt Linguist: Official Qt tool for editing and managing TS files.
• Qt SDK tools: Includes qhelpgenerator and other utilities for working with QCH files.

Step-by-step example using qch-extract and Qt Linguist

1. Download and install qch-extract from GitHub.
2. Run qch-extract yourfile.qch -o output_folder to extract HTML files.
3. Open the HTML files and copy the text you want to translate.
4. Open Qt Linguist and create a new TS file via File → New.
5. Paste the extracted text as new translation entries.
6. Save the TS file for use in your Qt project.

Conclusion

While there is no direct QCH to TS converter, you can extract documentation content from QCH files and manually or semi-automatically add it to TS files using the recommended tools. This process enables you to localize documentation or integrate help content translations into your Qt applications.