i18n

Lightweight simple translation module with dynamic json storage. Uses common __('...') syntax in app and templates. Stores language files in json files compatible to webtranslateit json format. Adds new strings on-the-fly when first used in your app. No extra parsing needed.

Install

npm install i18n

Usage

load and configure with express

in your app.js

// load modules
var express = require('express'),
    i18n = require("i18n");

now you are ready to use i18n.__('Hello'), or you register some helpers, like:

// register helpers for use in templates
app.helpers({
  __: i18n.__
});

// or even a global for use in your app.js
var __= i18n.__;

or (since 0.3.0) use configure to setup these:

i18n.configure({
    // setup some locales - other locales default to en silently
    locales:['en', 'de'],

    // where to register __() and __n() to, might be "global" if you know what you are doing
    register: global
});

in an express app, you might use i18n.init to gather language settings of your visitors, ie:

// Configuration
app.configure(function() {

	[...]

    // using 'accept-language' header to guess language settings
    app.use(i18n.init);
    app.use(app.router);
    app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
});

simple usage

in your app

var greeting = __('Hello');

in your template (depending on your template compiler)

<%= __('Hello') %>

${__('Hello')}

sprintf support

var greeting = __('Hello %s, how are you today?', 'Marcus');

this puts Hello Marcus, how are you today?. You might add endless arguments and even nest it.

var greeting = __('Hello %s, how are you today? How was your %s.', 'Marcus', __('weekend'));

which puts Hello Marcus, how are you today? How was your weekend.

variable support

you might even use dynamic variables. They get added to the en.js file if not yet existing.

var greetings = ['Hi', 'Hello', 'Howdy'];        
for (var i=0; i < greetings.length; i++) {
    console.log( __(greetings[i]) );
};

which puts

Hi
Hello
Howdy

plural support

different plural froms are supported as response to count:

var singular = __n('%s cat', '%s cats', 1);
var plural = __n('%s cat', '%s cats', 3);

this puts 1 cat or 3 cats and again these could get nested:

var singular = __n('There is one monkey in the %%s', 'There are %d monkeys in the %%s', 1, 'tree');
var plural = __n('There is one monkey in the %%s', 'There are %d monkeys in the %%s', 3, 'tree');

putting There is one monkey in the tree or There are 3 monkeys in the tree

json file

the above will automatically generate a en.js by default inside ./locales/ which looks like

{
	"Hello": "Hello",
	"Hello %s, how are you today?": "Hello %s, how are you today?",
	"weekend": "weekend",
	"Hello %s, how are you today? How was your %s.": "Hello %s, how are you today? How was your %s.",
	"Hi": "Hi",
	"Howdy": "Howdy",
	"%s cat": {
		"one": "%s cat",
		"other": "%s cats"
	},
	"There is one monkey in the %%s": {
		"one": "There is one monkey in the %%s",
		"other": "There are %d monkeys in the %%s"
	},
	"tree": "tree"
}

that file can be edited or just uploaded to webtranslateit for any kind of collaborative translation workflow:

{
	"Hello": "Hallo",
	"Hello %s, how are you today?": "Hallo %s, wie geht es dir heute?",
	"weekend": "Wochenende",
	"Hello %s, how are you today? How was your %s.": "Hallo %s, wie geht es dir heute? Wie war dein %s.",
	"Hi": "Hi",
	"Howdy": "Hallöchen",
	"%s cat": {
		"one": "%s Katze",
		"other": "%s Katzen"
	},
	"There is one monkey in the %%s": {
		"one": "Im %%s sitzt ein Affe",
		"other": "Im Baum sitzen %d Affen"
	},
	"tree": "Baum"
}

Changelog

• 0.3.0: added configure and init with express support (calling guessLanguage() via 'accept-language')
• 0.2.0: added plurals
• 0.1.0: added tests
• 0.0.1: start