Sijil

[SI]mple [J]son [I]nternationalization [L]ibrary

Introduction

Sijil is a simple but powerful i18n library. It can be used in conjunction with angular2, or as an old fashioned <script> inclusion.

Sijil is (very) basically a javascript object with one entry by language loaded, which contains all the translations available as key/values.

Like this :

{
    "en": { "hello": "Hi", "bye": "Bye" },
    "fr": { "hello": "Salut !", "bye": "Au revoir" }
}

But the interesting part is that we can use parameters and combine them with the final output.

Here is {{ name ? name : Nobody }} and {{ male ? his : her }} {{ 1 < bunnyCount ? $bunnyCount bunnies : bunny }}.

The library is also completely customizable, from the Loader to the Parser.

( Demo )

Installation

Using npm

npm install opendigitaleducation/sijil.js --save-dev

Or bower

bower cli

bower install opendigitaleducation/sijil.js

bower.json

"dependencies": {
    "sijil": "opendigitaleducation/sijil.js#master"
}

Then : bower install

Or build it yourself

• clone this repo
• npm install
• npm start

Distribution files will be located inside the dist folder.

Use it

With angular2

Use the es6 files (index.js as the entry point) and d.ts definitions, or the umd.bundle (dist/bundles/sijil.module.umd.js).

For example, with SystemJs loader, inside the systemjs.config.js file :

 System.config({
     // ... //
     map: {
         // ... //
         'sijil': 'npm:sijil/dist/bundles/sijil.module.umd.js'
         // ... //
     }
     // ... //
 })

Import the module

import { SijilModule } from 'sijil'
 
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        /* ... */
        SijilModule.forRoot(), // In the root module
        // OR
        SijilModule.forChild() // For lazily loaded modules
        /* ... */
     ]
})

Inside a component

• Inject the main service :

import { BundlesService } from 'sijil'
 
/* ... */
 
constructor(/*...*/, private bundlesService: BundlesService, /*...*/){}

• Load a bundle :

this.bundlesService.loadBundle('/path/to/the/language/file.json', 'en')
    .then(/* The bundle is loaded. */)
    .catch(...)

The default loader will perform an http request at the specified path to retrieve a json file. The contents will be added to the current language bundle (or the specified language as the 2nd argument).

• Inside a template

    <!-- USING THE S5L HTML TAG -->
 
    <s5l>hello</s5l>
    <!-- Force a language -->
    <s5l s5l-lang='en'>hello</s5l>
    <!-- With parameters -->
    <s5l [s5l-params]="{ itemNumber: 3 }">count.key</s5l>
    <!-- count.key being mapped to something like "There {{ itemNumber > 1 ? are $itemNumber items : is one item }} in the room" -->
 
    <!-- USING THE TRANSLATE PIPE -->
 
    {{ 'hello' | translate }}
    <!-- As an attribute -->
    <input attr.placeholder="{{ 'enter.your.name' | translate }}" />
    <!-- Force a language -->
    {{ 'hello' | translate:{}:'fr' }}
    <!-- With parameters -->
    {{ 'count.key' | translate:{itemNumber: 3} }}

forRoot

static forRoot(require?: Type<RequireService>, parser?: Type<Parser>, options?: SijilOpts): ModuleWithProviders

The forRoot method can be used to override the default services :

class DummyRequire implements RequireService {
    load(){ return new Promise(res => { res({ 'key': 'value'}) }) }
}
 
class DummyParser implements Parser {
    compile(text){ return text }
}
 
let dummyOpts = {  defaultLanguage: 'en' }
 
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        /* ... */
        SijilModule.forRoot(DummyRequire, DummyParser, dummyOpts)
        /* ... */
     ]
})

Without angular2

Include via a <script src="[your.sijil.path]/dist/bundles/sijil.js></script> tag.

Then use the global Sijil object as needed.

 <script src="../dist/bundles/sijil.js"></script> 

// Loads /docs/language.json file.
Sijil.loadBundle('/docs/' + Sijil.defaultLanguage + '.json').then(function(){
    // Adds the 'test' key to the bundle.
    Sijil.addToBundle({ 'test': '[OK] Sijil is now loaded.' })
    // Logs it.
    console.log(Sijil.translate('test'))
})

factory :

The factory method can be used to override the default services :

// Internal definition of the factory function :
Sijil['factory'] = (require: RequireService, parser: Parser, opts: SijilOpts) => {
    return new BundlesService(require || new XHRRequire(), parser || new FragmentsParser(), opts || defaultSijilOpts)
}

// Usage in your code :
let sijilInstance = Sijil.factory({
        // Dummy loader
        load: () => { return new Promise(res => { res({ 'key': 'value'}) }) },
    }, {
        // Dummy parser
        compile: (text) => text
    }, {
        // Dummy options
        defaultLanguage: 'en'
    })
sijilInstance.loadBundle().then(() => { console.log(sijilInstance.translate('key')) })
// <-- Outputs 'value'

Methods

loadBundle

or loadBundles for multiple bundles

Loads a bundle and associates it with a language. If the target language already contains key/values, then we mixin the new bundle and the existing one.

loadBundle(where, lang?: string) : Promise<void>

translate

the method called by the translate pipe and the s5l tag

Translates a single key into a target language, using the parameters provided if needed.

translate(key: string, parameters?: Object | any[], lang?: string) : string

unloadBundle

Removes a bundle from the bundles list.

unloadBundle(lang: string) : void

getLoadedLanguages

Returns a list of all loaded languages.

getLoadedLanguages() : string[]

Architecture

Require Service

A RequireService is used to fetch bundles. It contains a single load: (from: any) => Promise<Object> method, which loads the bundle according to its argument value.

The default RequireService provided (HttpRequireService for angular2 users, XhrRequireService otherwise) fetches the bundles from an url and parses json from the reponse.

Parser Service

A ParserService computes any logic provided in the translations.

• Input : 'raw' translation + parameters (Object or Array)
• Output : 'compiled' translation

The default provider instanciates a FragmentsParserService, which accepts the syntax described below.

FragmentsParserService

Logic is contained inside mustache blocks : {{ logic block }}

There are two variants :

A single parameter key or index

A key when the parameters are contained inside an object or an index when the parameters are contained inside an array

Examples:

{{ key }} + { "key" : "my key" } = my key

{{ 1 }} + [1, 2] = 2

A ternary-like condition

{{ condition ? trueValue : falseValue }}

{{ leftClause operator rightClause ? trueValue : falseValue }}

Where condition may be either a single parameter key/index, or 2 clauses with the following operators : ==, >, =>, <=, <

Examples:

the $ sign is used in ambiguous cases to refer to the parameter

{{ count > 1 ? $count cats : 1 cat }} + {"count": 10} = 10 cats

{{ 1 < count ? $count cats : 1 cat }} + {"count": 1} = 1 cat

Parameters array or parameter objects ?

The syntax is the same, but with indexes instead of names :

{{ $0 > 1 ? $0 cats : 1 cat }} + [10] = 10 cats

{{ 1 < $0 ? $0 cats : 1 cat named $1 }} + [1, 'Albert'] = 1 cat named Albert