I18n-light NPM

i18n-light

Installation

npm install --save i18n-light

bower install --save i18n-light

Motiviation

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.

Vocabulary

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.

Usage

Structure

  app
  ├── dict/
  |   ├── en.json
  |   └── it.json
  └── server.js

Dictionaries

dict/en.json

{
  "common": {
    "logo": "i18n-light"
  },
  "home": {
    "logout": "Logout",
    "loggedin": "Hello %s",
    "messages": {
      "zero": "No messages",
      "one": "1 message",
      "many": "%s messages"
    }
  }
}

dict/it.json

{
  "home": {
    "logout": "Esci",
    "loggedin": "Ciao %s",
    "messages": {
      "zero": "0 messaggi",
      "one": "1 messaggio",
      "many": "%s messaggi"
    }
  }
}

Basic Example

var i18n = require('i18n-light')

i18n.configure({
  defaultLocale: 'en',
  dir: path.join(__dirname, 'dict'),
  extension: '.json'
})

Express Example

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)

Views Example

...
<body>
  <span><%=i18n.__('common.logo')%></span> <!-- i18n-light -->
</body>
...

Options

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

API

configure(opts)

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
})
...

init()

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())
...

resetLocale(refresh)

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'

setLocale(locale, refresh)

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'

getLocale()

Method used to get the name of the current locale.

i18n.configure({
  defaultLocale: 'en'
  ...
})
...
i18n.getLocale()  // => en
...
i18n.setLocale('it')
...
i18n.getLocale()  // => it

isCached(locale)

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

setDefaultLocale(locale)

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

refreshContext(locale)

Method used to refresh the dictionary context of locale.

clearCache(refresh)

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

__(path[,arg1 [,arg2,..]])

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.

Dictionary

{
  "home": {
    "login": "Login",
    "welcome": "Welcome %s"
  }
}

Code

...
i18n.__('home.login')           // => 'Login'
i18n.__('home.welcome', 'Tom')  // => 'Welcome Tom'
...

__n(path[,arg1 [,arg2,..]], count)

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.

Dictionary

{
  "home": {
    "messages": {
      "zero": "No messages",
      "one": "1 message",
      "many": "%s messages"
    }
  }
}

Code

...
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'
...

Using your own Resolver

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
    });
  }
  ...
})

Browserify

Intead of using the dir option to point to the dictionaries directory, you have the possibility to inject your own dictionary contexts 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'))
            }
})

i18n-light i18n multilingual internationalization middleware

sprintf-js

@infinitebrahmanuniverse/nolb-i1 @everything-registry/sub-chunk-1887

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