Localez

****>> STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION <<****

Localization is a pain, specially when dealing with gender specific translations and pluralization, other libraries have tackled this with complex json/xml structures. This library avoids that by working similar to existing templating libraries, allowing translation to be self contained and inline. Using ES6 templating string makes it even easier.

Installation

/** Node / Server Setup **/
var __ = require('locaez')
/** AMD / RequireJS Setup **/
// Todo
/** Standalone / Browser Setup **/
// Library is automatically added to global/window scope

Usage

__('I have {{integer n zero(bottles) one(bottle) other(bottles)}} of beer', {n: 10})
// I have 10 bottles of beer
__('{{gender g male(He) female(She)}} has {{integer n zero(like) one(like) other(likes)}}', {g: 'female', n: 103})
// She has 103 likes

Translations

The translations are stored in a JSON file which is loaded in and stored by it's language, the language to decided either by UserAgent or by user if loaded manually.

Example of a translation file

{
    "config": {
        "lang": "en",
        "debug": false
    },
    "-1783117148": "This has been translated (Test Locale Loading) {{g gender male(male) female(female)}}"
}

The number stored for each translation is a unique HashCode to that string, the preference for a hashCode instead of original string is for compression and readability of contents.

Along with the with the translation is the config for that specific lang that overrides all aspects of translation.

The HashCode is generated using the function below (there's a Gulp task below too that trawls your source code and generates a translation file with this function)

String.prototype.hashCode = function() {
  var hash = 0, i, chr, len;
  if (this.length == 0) return hash;
  for (i = 0, len = this.length; i < len; i++) {
    chr   = this.charCodeAt(i);
    hash  = ((hash << 5) - hash) + chr;
    hash |= 0; // Convert to 32bit integer
  }
  return hash;
};

Question?

Should library allow hashCode matching to be optional? And let developer decide to use STRING CONST instead, contact me if you believe so.

Localization Examples

/** fen.js (loaded by localez) **/
locale = {
  '-1390162012': 'Morning',
  '-870584423': 'Good Afternoon',
  '-2022316621': 'What a wonderful day!',
  '-1392943720': 'You are {{gender target male({{n amount zero(sexy man) other(sexy men)}}) female({{n amount zero(sexy lady) other(sexy ladies)}})}}.',
  '-1672370112': 'There\'s {{integer bottles other(bottles) one(bottle)}} of beer on the wall.'
}
 
/** fr.js (loaded by localez) **/
locale = {
  '-1390162012': 'Matin',
  '-870584423': 'Bon après-midi',
  '-2022316621': 'Quel wonderfuly jour !',
  '1837336777': '{{gender target male({{n amount zero(vous êtes %i sexy homme) other(vous êtes %i hommes sexy)}}) female({{n amount zero(vous êtes %i dame sexy) other(vous êtes %i dames sexy)}})}}.',
  '-1672370112': 'There\'s {{integer bottles other(bottles) one(bottle)}} of beer on the wall.'
}
 
/** In Source Code **/
__('Morning')
// Matin
 
/** You can pass gender alternatives and pluralizers **/
 
__('There\'s {{i bottles other( bottles) one( bottle)}} of beer on the wall.', {bottles: 99})
// vous êtes deux dames sexy.
 
__('You are {{g target male({{n amount zero(sexy man) other(sexy men)}}) female({{n amount zero(sexy lady) other(sexy ladies)}})}}.', {amount: 2, target: 'female'})
// vous êtes deux dames sexy.
// Notices in the fr.json the sentences are all inside the expression for gender using number placement.
 

Load Locale

/** Node / Server Setup **/
var path = require('path');
__.load('fr', path.resolve(__dirname + '/locales/fr.js'));
 
/** AMD / RequireJS Setup **/
// Todo
 
/** Standalone / Browser Setup **/
localez.load('fr')
// or say src
localez.load('fr', 'http://url.com/fr.json')
 

---

Specification

Parse a string and inject appropriate variables if required.

__(STRING, [OBJECT])

The library works by first retrieving exact match of string from the stored locale (which is loaded on launch), it then parses that string for Types which has Options

Types

Type Long	Type Shorthand	Type Options
gender	g	Can be what ever you want, it just needs to match up to variable passed in: male or female
integer	i	zero, one, few, many, other
number	n	zero, one, few, many, other

In any type the second argument is the variable used for options, the variable is gained from the passed in object.

Anything inside an option is also parsed for locale expressions

Examples (using shorthand from now on)

Genders

__('It\'s a {{g profile male(Man\'s) female(Women\'s)}} world.', {profile: 'male'})
// It's a Mans world.
__('It\'s a {{g profile male(Man\'s) female(Women\'s)}} world.', {profile: 'female'})
// It's a Women's world.

Integers (pluralization)

__('There\'s {{i bottles other(bottles) one(bottle)}} of beer on the wall.', {bottles: 99})
// There's 99 bottles of beer on the wall.
__('{{i bottles other(There\'s %i bottles) one(There was only %i bottle)}} of beer on the wall.', {bottles: 1})
// There was only 1 bottle of beer on the wall.

n.b. The library lets you decide if you want a gap between numbers using the %i to indicate where to place number, if non found it will be injected before string with space.

Numbers (pluralization)

__('There\'s {{n bottles other( bottles) one( bottle)}} of beer on the wall.', {bottles: 99})
// There's ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall.

Config per locale

Inside the locale that's loaded you can add a config that will changed how the string is parsed.

config: {
  debug: false,
}

Config Options	Defaults
debug		If debug is enabled or not, default is false
debugConsoleStyle
warn	background: #990f0f; color: #ffc7c7	Styling for warning messages in console
error	background: #990f0f; color: #ffc7c7	Styling for error messages in console
openTag	{{	string to match on for opening an expression
closeTag	}}	string to match on for closing an expression
matchers
type	/^(\s+)?\w+/i	Regex to extract the type inside an expression
variable	/^(\s+)?[\w.]+/i	Regex to extract the variable in an expression
markers		These are the markers for types
gender	['gender', 'g']	Determines if the expression is a gender type
integer	['integer', 'i']	Determines if the expression is a integer type
number	['number', 'n']	Determines if the expression is a number type
numberEnum		Override the enums returned by the numbers function
zero	zero
one	one
two	two
few	few
many	many
other	other
numbers	function(number, gender)	A function to decide which enum the value of the variable is, used to pick the option inside an expression
numberToString	function(number, gender)	A function to convert an integer into number text (1 -> one)

Gulp Task for Generating a Locale File

Below is a Gulp task that will trawl the source code directory for any translation references and spit them out to ./locales/output.js

Download from: localez/gulptask.js