npm install --save i18n-light
bower install --save i18n-light
My main motivation in developing i18n-light
was to create a localization module which enabled a developer to use the same storage (dictionaries
) for both Back-end
and Front-end
code, thus having localized phrases more consistent and organized.
Name | Description |
---|---|
Dictionary |
A JSON file which i18n-light will use for localization. |
Dicionary Contexts |
Is the JSON of a locale. This reside within a dictionary and is this Object which i18n-light will be using for localization. |
Dictionary Path |
Is the path which i18n-light need to travel through the dictionary context . |
Locale |
A name for a dictionary. |
app
├── dict/
| ├── en.json
| └── it.json
└── server.js
{
"common": {
"logo": "i18n-light"
},
"home": {
"logout": "Logout",
"loggedin": "Hello %s",
"messages": {
"zero": "No messages",
"one": "1 message",
"many": "%s messages"
}
}
}
{
"home": {
"logout": "Esci",
"loggedin": "Ciao %s",
"messages": {
"zero": "0 messaggi",
"one": "1 messaggio",
"many": "%s messaggi"
}
}
}
var i18n = require('i18n-light')
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en',
dir: path.join(__dirname, 'dict'),
extension: '.json'
})
var express = require('express')
, app = express()
, i18n = require('i18n-light')
...
i18n.configure({
dir: path.join(__dirname, 'dict'),
defaultLocale: 'en',
fallback: true,
cache: true,
extension: 'json',
refresh: false
})
app.use(i18n.init())
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
i18n.setLocale('en')
console.log(i18n.__('common.logo')) // => 'i18n-light'
console.log(i18n.__('home.logout')) // => 'Logout'
console.log(i18n.__('home.loggedin', 'Tom')) // => 'Hello Tom'
console.log(i18n.__('home.messages', 2)) // => '2 messages'
})
app.get('/it', function(req, res) {
i18n.setLocale('it')
console.log(i18n.__('common.logo')) // Will fallback to en => 'i18n-light'
console.log(i18n.__('home.logout')) // => 'Esci'
console.log(i18n.__('home.loggedin', 'Tom')) // => 'Ciao Tom'
console.log(i18n.__('home.messages', 2)) // => '2 messaggi'
})
...
require('http').createServer(app).listen(8080)
...
<body>
<span><%=i18n.__('common.logo')%></span> <!-- i18n-light -->
</body>
...
Name | Type | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|
defaultLocale |
String |
Required |
The locale which i18-light will fallback if a dictionary path isn't resolvable in the current dictionary. |
dir |
String |
N/A | The directory path where the dictionaries will reside. |
context |
Object |
N/A | Instead of using dir to instruct i18n-light from where to retrieve the dictionaries, you can pass dictionaries directly through the context . Note: i18n-light will only look for this attribute if dir isn't specified. More information below. |
fallback |
Boolean |
true |
Indicates whether i18n-light should fallback to the defaultLocale dictionary context if the path is invalid in the dictionary context of the current locale. |
refresh |
Boolean |
false |
Indicates whether i18n-light should retrieve an update of the dictionary context (true ) or keep using what is already cached (false ). |
cache |
Boolean |
true |
Indicates whether i18n-light should cache dictionary context s (true ) or not (false ). |
extension |
String |
.js |
The extension of the dictionary files. |
resolve |
Function |
null |
Instead of using dir or context you can use this function to code your own resolver for your dictionary files. Note that i18n-light will only use this function if your i18n-light instance is not configured using either context or dir . More info on how to use here |
Method used to configure (initiate) an instance of i18n-light
. Take a look at the options section to understand what options it accepts.
...
i18n.configure({
dir: path.join(__dirname, 'dict'),
defaultLocale: 'en',
fallback: true
})
...
Middleware method. This is the method used to integrate i18n-light
instance to Express
. Take a look at the usage section example to see how this can be easily done. This method makes your i18n-light
instance accessible from:
res.i18n
res.locals.i18n
- making your instances accessible from your views.
...
app.use(i18n.init())
...
Method used to reset the current locale to the default one. It has an optional parameter refresh
which when its true
i18n-light
updates the dictionary context of the default locale.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.setLocale('it') //default locale is now 'it'
...
i18n.resetLocale() //default locale is now 'en'
Method used to change the current locale of your i18n-light
instance to locale
. It has an optional
argument refresh
which when its true
, i18n-light
updates the dictionary context of locale
.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.setLocale('it') //default locale is now 'it'
Method used to get the name of the current locale.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.getLocale() // => en
...
i18n.setLocale('it')
...
i18n.getLocale() // => it
Method used to check whether a dictionary context
of locale
is cached or not.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.isCached('en') // => true
...
i18n.isCached('it') // => false
...
i18n.setLocale('it')
...
i18n.isCached('it') // => true
Method used to change the default locale of your i18n-light
instance to locale
.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.getLocale() // => en
...
i18n.setDefaultLocale('it') // => true
...
i18n.getLocale('it') // => it
Method used to refresh the dictionary context
of locale
.
Method used to clear the cache of your i18n-light
instance.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.setLocale('it') // => en
...
i18n.isCached('en') // => true
i18n.isCached('it') // => true
...
i18n.clearCache()
...
i18n.isCached('en') // => false
i18n.isCached('it') // => false
It has an optional
argument refresh
which when its true, i18n-light
refreshes the dictionary context
of the current locale.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en'
...
})
...
i18n.setLocale('it') // => en
...
i18n.isCached('en') // => true
i18n.isCached('it') // => true
...
i18n.clearCache(true)
...
i18n.isCached('en') // => false
i18n.isCached('it') // => true
Method used by i18n-light
to convert path
to the localized phrase within the current dictionary context
of the current locale (or default locale if path is invalid and fallback
=== true).
This method makes use of sprintf-js, enabling you to include placeholders in your dictionary
phrases (see example).
Note that if path
is not resolvable i18n-light
will return the path itself.
{
"home": {
"login": "Login",
"welcome": "Welcome %s"
}
}
...
i18n.__('home.login') // => 'Login'
i18n.__('home.welcome', 'Tom') // => 'Welcome Tom'
...
Method used by i18n-light
to convert path
to a quantitative localized phrase within the current dictionary context
of the current locale (or default locale if path is invalid and fallback
=== true).
This method makes use of sprintf-js, enabling you to include placeholders in your dictionary
phrases (see example).
Note that if path
is not resolvable i18n-light
will return the path itself.
Also note that the last argument (count
) is used only by i18n-light
and not by sprintf-js
.
If count === 0
or is a String
it will append .zero
to path
.
If count === 1
it will append .one
to path
.
If count > 1
it will append .many
to path
.
{
"home": {
"messages": {
"zero": "No messages",
"one": "1 message",
"many": "%s messages"
}
}
}
...
i18n.__n('home.messages', 0) // => 'No messages'
i18n.__n('home.messages', 1) // => '1 Message'
i18n.__n('home.messages', 3) // => 'undefined messages'
i18n.__n('home.messages', 3, 3) // => '3 messages'
...
As already mentioned in the options section, i18n-light
will only use this functionality if it hasn't been configured with dir
or context
options. When a context of a locale is needed, i18n-light
will call this function with the locale name passed as the parameter. This function should then return a dictionary context
in the form of a JSON.
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: 'en',
resolve: function(locale){
$.ajax({
type: 'GET',
url: 'dict/' + locale + '.js',
dataType: 'json',
success: function(data) {
return data
},
async: false
});
}
...
})
Intead of using the dir
option to point to the dictionaries directory, you have the possibility to inject your own dictionary context
s during the configuration of i18n-light
instance using context
option. As already stated, in order for i18n-light
to use the context
option, the dir
option needs to be omitted.
The following example shows how can this be done using brfs for browserify
.
var i18n = require('i18n-light');
i18n.configure({
defaultLocale: document.documentElement.lang,
context: { 'en': JSON.parse(require('fs')
.readFileSync('en.js', 'utf-8'))
, 'it': JSON.parse(require('fs')
.readFileSync('it.js', 'utf-8'))
}
})