Transifex Native is a full end-to-end, cloud-based localization stack for moderns apps.

Transifex Native SDK: JavaScript i18n

A general purpose Javascript library for localizing web apps using Transifex Native.

Requires a Transifex Native Project Token.

Supported Node.js versions >= 14.x.x

Related packages:

Learn more about Transifex Native in the Transifex Developer Hub.

How it works

Step1: Create a Transifex Native project in Transifex.

Step2: Grab credentials.

Step3: Internationalize the code using the SDK.

Step4: Push source phrases using the @transifex/cli tool.

Step5: Translate the app using over-the-air updates.

No translation files required.

Upgrade to v2

If you are upgrading from the 1.x.x version, please read this migration guide, as there are breaking changes in place.

Quick starting guide

Install the library using:

npm install @transifex/native --save

Webpack

import { tx, t } from '@transifex/native';

// initialize
tx.init({
  token: '<PUBLIC PROJECT TOKEN>',
});

async function main() {
  // set target language, this will fetch translations Over The Air
  await tx.setCurrentLocale('el');

  // translate something
  const message = t('Welcome {user}', {user: 'Joe'});
  console.log(message);

  // get supported languages in order to create a language picker
  const languages = await tx.getLanguages();
  console.log(languages);
  /*
  [{
    name: 'Greek',
    code: 'el',
    localized_name: 'Ελληνικά',
    rtl: false,
  },{
  ...
  }]
  */
}

main();

Node.js

const { tx, t } = require('@transifex/native');

// initialize
tx.init({
  token: '<PUBLIC PROJECT TOKEN>',
});

...

Browser

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@transifex/native/dist/browser.native.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  const tx = Transifex.tx;
  const t = Transifex.t;

  // initialize SDK
  tx.init({
    token: '<PUBLIC PROJECT TOKEN>',
  });

  // get all languages
  tx.setCurrentLocale('fr').then(function() {
    // translate something
    const message = t('Welcome {user}', {user: 'Joe'});
    console.log(message);
  });
</script>

API

Initialize library

tx.init({
  // Public project token, defaults to empty string
  token: String,

  // CDS endpoint, defaults to https://cds.svc.transifex.net
  cdsHost: String,

  // Fetch only strings that contain specific tags from CDS, e.g. "master,react"
  filterTags: String,

  // Fetch only strings matching translation status: reviewed,proofread,finalized
  filterStatus: String,

  // Missing translation policy, defaults to "new SourceStringPolicy()"
  missingPolicy: Function,

  // Error policy, defaults to "new SourceErrorPolicy()"
  errorPolicy: Function,

  // String renderer, defaults to "new MessageFormatRenderer()"
  stringRenderer: Function,

  // Translation cache, defaults to "new MemoryCache()"
  cache: Function,

  // Optional timeout in milliseconds when fetching languages and
  // strings, defaults to 0 (no-timeout)
  fetchTimeout: Number,

  // Optional interval polling delay in milliseconds while waiting
  // for CDS to warm-up with content, defaults to 250msec
  fetchInterval: Number,
})

Languages

Fetches list of project languages from CDS, useful for creating a language picker.

tx.getLanguages(): Promise([
  {
    name: String,
    code: String,
    localized_name: String,
    rtl: Boolean
  },
  ...
])

// Example
tx.getLanguages().
  then(languages => console.log(languages)).
  catch(err => console.log(err))

Get a list of available locales based on CDS.

tx.getLocales(): Promise(['code', 'code',...])

Set current translation language

Fetches translations from the CDS and stores them in cache. When the promise returns, all content will be translated to that language.

tx.setCurrentLocale(localeCode): Promise

// Example
tx.setCurrentLocale('el').
  then(() => console.log('content loaded')).
  catch(err => console.log(err))

Get current translation language

Returns the currently selected language code.

tx.getCurrentLocale(): String(localeCode)

// Example
console.log(tx.getCurrentLocale())

Content translation

Returns the translation of the passed source string based on the currenly selected language. If the translation is not found, the returned string is handled by the configured missing policy. If an error occurs in the ICU parsing of the string, the error is handled based on the configured error policy.

The translation is returned unescaped and it is NOT safe to be used inside the HTML document unless escaped

t(sourceString, params): String(localizedString)
sourceString: String(ICU syntax string)
params: Object({
  // optional string context, affects key generation
  _context: String,

  // optional developer comment
  _comment: String,

  // optional character limit instruction for translators
  _charlimit: Number,

  // optional comma separated list of tags
  _tags: String,

  // optional custom key
  _key: String,

  // optionally escape ICU variables
  _escapeVars: Boolean,

  // ICU variables, plurals, gender etc
  ...icu variables...
})


// Example
console.log(
  t('Hello <b>{username}</b>', { username: 'Joe' })
)
// "Hello <b>Joe</b>"

Escaping translations

Using the translation as is from the t function inside HTML is dangerous for XSS attacks. The translation must be escaped based on two scenarios.

Escaping text translations

import { t, escape } from '@transifex/native';

const translation = escape(t('Hello {username}', { username }));
// translation is safe to include in HTML

Escaping HTML source

HTML source content cannot be globally escaped. In that case, we can just escape the ICU variables using the _escapeVars parameter.

import { t } from '@transifex/native';

const html = t('<b>Hello {username}</b>', {
  username: username,
  _escapeVars: true,
});

Push source content

For server side integrations you can also push source content programmatically without using the CLI.

tx.pushSource(payload, params): Promise
payload: Object({
  key: {
   string: String,
    meta: {
      context: String,
      developer_comment: String,
      character_limit: Number,
      tags: Array(String),
      occurrences: Array(String),
    },
  },
  key: { .. }
})
params: Object({
  // Replace the entire resource content with the pushed content of this request
  purge: Boolean,

  // Replace the existing string tags with the tags of this request
  overrideTags: Boolean,

  // Replace the existing string occurrences with the occurrences of this request
  overrideOccurrences: Boolean,

  // If true, when wait for processing to be complete before
  // resolving this promise
  noWait: Boolean,
})

For example:

const { createNativeInstance } = require('@transifex/native');

const tx = createNativeInstance({
  token: 'token',
  secret: 'secret',
});

await tx.pushSource({
  'mykey': {
    string: 'My string',
    meta: {
      context: 'content', // optional
      developer_comment: 'developer comment', // optional
      character_limit: 10, // optional
      tags: ['tag1', 'tag2'], // optional
      occurrences: ['file.jsx', 'file2.js'], // optional
    },
  }
});

Invalidate CDS cache

Server side integrations can also invalidate the CDS cache programmatically.

tx.invalidateCDS({
  // if true, then purge the cache entirely (not recommended)
  purge: Boolean,
}): Promise