vazco/Universe i18n

Internationalization package that offers much better performance than others (as it depends, if used with React, on a simple event emitter rather than much heavier Tracker dependency).

The package supports:

• namespacing of translation strings
• YAML file formats
• both types of parameters (named and positional)
• typographic notation of numbers
• 353 locales (with basic informations: name, symbol of currency, rtl)
• regional dialects inheritance mechanism (e.g. 'en-us' inherits from translations assigned to 'en')
• react component <T>ok</T> or <T _translateProps={['title']}><div title="ok">here</div></T>
• ECMAScript 6 modules
• supports dynamic imports (Client does not need to download all translations at once)
• remote loading of translations from a different host
• dedicated translation strings editor (alpha version) mac os, win x64

Table of Contents

• Universe i18n
  • Installation
    • Typescript
  • Usage
    • Setting/getting locale
    • Adding translations by methods
    • Getting translations
    • Creating a React component
    • Formatting numbers
  • Translations files
    • Recognition locale of translation
    • Namespace
      • Translation in packages
      • Translation in application
  • API
  • Blaze support
  • Integration with SimpleSchema
  • Supported locales

Installation

$ meteor add universe:i18n

Typescript

$ meteor npm install --save @types/meteor-universe-i18n

Usage

The package is dedicated to work with React but you can use it without it as well.

import i18n from 'meteor/universe:i18n';

Tutorials

• Meteor Guide
• Internationalizing Meteor with Universe:i18n

Other links:

• mock universe i18n

Setting/getting locale

i18n.setLocale('en-US', params)
i18n.getLocale() //en-US

Params in setLocale are optional yet offer additional possibilities:

• noDownload - disables downloading translation file on the client (client side)
• silent - protects against broadcasting the refresh event (both sides)
• async - downloads translation file in an async way (client side)
• fresh - downloads fresh translations (ignores the browser cache)

If you want to use the browser's locale, you can do it as follows:

// somewhere in the page layout (or possibly in the router?)
function getLang () {
    return (
        navigator.languages && navigator.languages[0] ||
        navigator.language ||
        navigator.browserLanguage ||
        navigator.userLanguage ||
        'en-US'
    );
}

i18n.setLocale(getLang());

Keep in mind though that it will work on the client side and in server methods called from client (on the same connection). In other places where connection is not detected, you must provide it self. By the way, It's good option is also use 'accept-language' header to recognize client's locale on server side.

Adding translations by methods

import i18n from 'meteor/universe:i18n';
import './en.i18n.yml';
import './en-US.i18n.yml';

i18n.addTranslation('en-US', 'Common', 'no', 'No');
i18n.addTranslation('en-US', 'Common.ok', 'Ok');

i18n.addTranslations('en-US', {
    Common: {
        hello: 'Hello {$name} {$0}!'
    }
});

i18n.addTranslations('en-US', 'Common', {
    hello: 'Hello {$name} {$0}!'
});

Getting translations

You can obtain translation strings by:

• creating an instance of the React component ( can be predefined for context ) (More on that in the next section)
• using i18n.getTranslation() or, quicker, calling i18n.__()

i18n.__(key);
i18n.__(key, params);
i18n.__(Namespace, key, parameters);
i18n.__(Namespace, key, parameters);
i18n.__(key, key, key, key, parameters);
// same with "getTranslation", e.g.:
i18n.getTranslation(Key, Key, Key, key, parameters);
// namespaced translations
var t = i18n.createTranslator(Namespace);
t(key, parameters);
// different language translations
var t2 = i18n.createTranslator('', 'fr-fr');
t2(key, parameters);

If needed, parameters can be passed as the last one of the function arguments, as an array or an object since they can be named or positional (ie. indexed). Additionally, for positional parameters it is irrelevant whether they are passed as an array or an object with keys '0', '1', '2'... Besides, 'positional' properties of such an object can be mixed with named ones.

 _namespace: ''
 hello: Hello {$name}!
 lengthOfArr: length {$length}
 items: The first item is {$0} and the last one is {$2}!

i18n.__('hello', {name: 'Ania'}); // output: Hello Ania!
i18n.__('lengthOfArr', {length:['a', 'b', 'c'].length}); // output: length 3
i18n.__('items', ['a', 'b', 'c']); // output: The first item is a and the last one is c!

Creating a React component

import i18n from 'meteor/universe:i18n';

// an instance of a translate component with the top-level context
const T = i18n.createComponent();

// later on...
<T>Common.no</T>
<T>Common.ok</T>
<T name="World" {...[69]}>Common.hello</T>
// translate component
<T _translateProps={['title', 'children']}>
      <div title="Common.ok">Common.ok</div>
</T>

import i18n from 'meteor/universe:i18n';

// an instance of a translate component in the "Common" namespace
const T = i18n.createComponent(i18n.createTranslator('Common'));

// later on...
<T>ok</T>
// overriding locale
<T _locale='pl-PL'>hello</T>
// overriding the default DOM element 'span' with 'h1'
<T _tagType='h1'>hello</T>
// getting something from different namespace (e.g. Different.hello instead of Common.hello)
<T _namespace='Diffrent'>hello</T>
// providing props to the element
<T _props={{ className: 'text-center', style: { color: '#f33' }}}>hello</T>

Take in mind, that on client side strings are sanitized to PCDATA. TIP: To prevent sensitization you can pass _purify={false} on <T> component.

Formatting numbers

i18n.parseNumber('7013217.715'); // 7,013,217.715
i18n.parseNumber('16217 and 17217,715'); // 16,217 and 17,217.715
i18n.parseNumber('7013217.715', 'ru-RU'); // 7 013 217,715

Translations files

Instead of setting translations directly through i18n.addTranslation(s), you can store them in YAML or JSON files, named .i18n.yml, .i18n.json accordingly. As locales are by default loaded lazily, the translation files, unless they are attached to the bundle, should be placed in the common space.

Recognition locale of translation

Files can be named freely as long as they have their respective locale declared under the key '_locale'.

_locale: 'en-US',
title: Title

Otherwise, files should be named after their respective locales or placed in directories named accordingly.

en.i18n.yml
en.i18n.json
en_us.i18n.yml
en-us.i18n.yml
en/us.i18n.yml
en-US/someName.i18n.yml
someDir/en-us/someName.i18n.yml

Namespace

Translations in a translation file can be namespaced (depending on where they are located). A namespace can be set up only for a whole file, yet a file as such can add more deeply embedded structures.

*Tip: A good practise is using PascalCase for naming of namespaces and for leafs use camelCase. This helps protect against conflicts namespace with string

Splitting keys in file

Comma-separated or x-separated keys in file e.g.:

_splitKey: '.'
Chapter.title: Title
Chapter.xxx: XXX

or

_splitKey: ':'
Chapter:title: Title
Chapter:xxx: XXX

Will be loaded as following structure:

Chapter:
    title: Title
    xxx: XXX

Translation in packages

For example, translations files in packages are by default namespaced by their package name.

// file en.json in the universe:profile package
{
    "userName": "User name"
}

import i18n from 'meteor/universe:i18n';

i18n.__('universe:profile', 'userName') // output: User name

// in React:
const T = i18n.createComponent();
<T>universe:profile.userName</T>
// or:
const T2 = i18n.createComponent(i18n.createTranslator('universe:profile'));
<T2>userName</T2>

You can change a default namespace for a file by setting a prefix to this file under the key "_namespace".

// file en.json in the universe:profile package
{
    "_namespace": "Common",
    "userName": "User name"
}

And then:

i18n.__('Common', 'userName') // output: User name
i18n.__('Common.userName') // output: User name

// in React:
const T = i18n.createComponent();
<T>Common.userName</T>

TIP: You can also add translations from a package on the top-level by passing empty string '' in the key "_namespace".

Translation in application

Here your translations by default are not namespaced which means that your translations from an application space are top-level and can override every other namespace.

For example:

# file en_us.yml in an application space (not from a package)
userName: user name

i18n.__('userName') //output: User name
// in React:
const T = i18n.createComponent();
<T>userName</T>

If you want to add translations under a namespace, you should define it in the key '_namespace'.

_namespace: User.Listing.Item
userName: User name

i18n.__('User.Listing.Item.userName'); // output: User name
i18n.__('User', 'Listing', 'Item.userName'); // output: User name
// in React:
const T = i18n.createComponent();
<T>User.Listing.Item.userName</T>
// or:
const T2 = i18n.createComponent('User.Listing');
<T2>Item.userName</T2>

Listener on language change

// adds a listener on language change
i18n.onChangeLocale (function(newLocale){
    console.log(newLocale);
})

// removes a listener
i18n.offChangeLocale (fn)

// does something on the first language change and then stops the listener
i18n.onceChangeLocale (fn)

Listing available languages

You can use i18n.getLanguages to list all languages with at least one translation:

i18n.getLanguages() // ['en', 'de']
i18n.getLanguages('name') // ['English', 'German']

This method will return all translations that are available on the server as well as loaded on the client.

To build a language picker with all possible options you need to fetch data from the server, e.g.:

Meteor.methods({
    getLanguages() {
        return i18n.getLanguages().map(code => ({
            code,
            name: i18n.getLanguageNativeName(code)
        }));
    }
});

API

// creates a React component
i18n.createComponent(translator, locale, reactjs, type);
//  @params:
//    translator (optional, the default is i18n.createTranslator()) - with this argument you can set a different function for translation or the namespace for the default translator.
//    locale (optional, the default is the current locale) - sets a language for the component (can be different than anywhere else on the site)
//    reactjs (optional, by default it tries to get React from a global variable) - you can pass a React object if it is not available in the global scope
//    type (optional, by default it uses <span> to render the content) - sets a DOM element that will be rendered, e.g. 'li', 'div' or 'h1'.

// creates a namespaced translator. Options: {_locale, _purify}
i18n.createTranslator(namespace, options);

// creates a reactive translator for autoruns
i18n.createReactiveTranslator(namespace, locale);
// TIP: keep in mind that a tracker dependency object is not light, yet in React this is not obligatory
// thus our React component can be reactive and much lighter in terms of performance

// adds a translation
i18n.addTranslation(locale, namespace, key, ..., translation);

// adds translations (same as addTranslation)
i18n.addTranslations(locale, namespace, translationsMap);

// gets a translation in params (_locale, _purify)
i18n.getTranslation(namespace, key, ..., params);
i18n.__(namespace, key,..., params);

// get translations (locale is by default set to the current one)
i18n.getTranslations(namespace, locale);

// options
i18n.setOptions({
    // default locale
    defaultLocale: 'en-US',

    // opens string
    open: '{$',

    // closes string
    close: '}',

    // cleanups untrust/unknown tags, to secure your application against XSS attacks.
    // at browser side, default policy is to sanitize strings as a PCDATA
    purify: <FUNCTION>, // On server side as a default option is that nothing is purifying (but you can provide function for that)

    // decides whether to show when there's no translation in the current and default language
    hideMissing: false,

    // url to the host with translations (default: Meteor.absoluteUrl())
    // useful when you want to load translations from a different host
    hostUrl: 'http://current.host.url/',

    // (on the server side only) gives you the possibility to add/change response headers
    translationsHeaders = {'Cache-Control':'max-age=2628000'},

    // synchronizes server connection with locale on client. (method invoked by client will be with client side locale)
    sameLocaleOnServerConnection: true
});

// formats numbers for locale (locale is by default set to the current one)
i18n.parseNumber(number, locale);

// supports dynamic imports
import('../fr.i18n.yml');

// changes locale
i18n.setLocale(locale, params);
// this function on the client side returns a promise (but only if parameter `noDownload !== true`)
// Called from client, it sets locale for connection on server side.
// It mean that method invoked by client will be with client side locale.
// You can turn off this synchronization by setting the global option `sameLocaleOnServerConnection: false`

// Setting locale for connection (if `connectionId` is not provided system will try detect current connection id)
i18n.setLocaleOnConnection(locale, connectionId=);
// this function sets locale in all places, where connection can be detected (like meteor methods)

// gets the current locale
i18n.getLocale();

// gets languages with at least one translation
i18n.getLanguages(type = 'code')
i18n.getLanguages() // ['de', 'en']
i18n.getLanguages('name') // ['German', 'English']
i18n.getLanguages('nativeName') // ['Deutsch', 'English']

// fetches translations file from the remote server (client/server)
i18n.loadLocale(locale, params)
// @params on the client { fresh = false, async = false, silent = false,
// host = i18n.options.hostUrl, pathOnHost = i18n.options.pathOnHost }
// @params on server { queryParams = {}, fresh = false, silent = false,
// host = i18n.options.hostUrl, pathOnHost = i18n.options.pathOnHost }
// on the server side, this method uses HTTP.get with query parameter `type=json` to fetch json data
// on the client site, it adds a new script with translations to the head node
// this function returns a promise

// executes function in the locale context,
i18n.runWithLocale(locale, func)
// it means that every default locale used inside a called function will be set to a passed locale
// keep in mind that locale must be loaded first (if it is not bundled)

// additional informations about locale (locale is by default set to the current one)

getCurrencySymbol (code) // or locale with country
returns currency symbol if known

i18n.getCurrencySymbol('en-US') // = $
i18n.getCurrencySymbol('USD') // = $
i18n.getCurrencyCodes('en-US') // = ["USD", "USN", "USS"]

getLanguageName (locale)
getLanguageNativeName (locale)
isRTL (locale)
getAllKeysForLocale(locale, exactlyThis = false)

Blaze support

universe:i18n-blaze

Integration with SimpleSchema package

Add following-like code to main.js:

const registerSchemaMessages = () => {
    SimpleSchema.messages({
        'required': i18n.__('SimpleSchema.required')
    });
};

i18n.onChangeLocale(registerSchemaMessages);
registerSchemaMessages();

Put the default error messages somewhere in your project on both sides e.g.:

_locale: en
_namespace: SimpleSchema

required: '[label] is required'
minString: '[label] must be at least [min] characters'
maxString: '[label] cannot exceed [max] characters'
minNumber: '[label] must be at least [min]'
maxNumber: '[label] cannot exceed [max]'
minNumberExclusive: '[label] must be greater than [min]'
maxNumberExclusive: '[label] must be less than [max]'
minDate: '[label] must be on or after [min]'
maxDate: '[label] cannot be after [max]'
badDate: '[label] is not a valid date'
minCount: 'You must specify at least [minCount] values'
maxCount: 'You cannot specify more than [maxCount] values'
noDecimal: '[label] must be an integer'
notAllowed: '[value] is not an allowed value'
expectedString: '[label] must be a string'
expectedNumber: '[label] must be a number'
expectedBoolean: '[label] must be a boolean'
expectedArray: '[label] must be an array'
expectedObject: '[label] must be an object'
expectedConstructor: '[label] must be a [type]'
RegEx:
  msg: '[label] failed regular expression validation'
  Email: '[label] must be a valid e-mail address'
  WeakEmail: '[label] must be a valid e-mail address'
  Domain: '[label] must be a valid domain'
  WeakDomain: '[label] must be a valid domain'
  IP: '[label] must be a valid IPv4 or IPv6 address'
  IPv4: '[label] must be a valid IPv4 address'
  IPv6: '[label] must be a valid IPv6 address'
  Url: '[label] must be a valid URL'
  Id: '[label] must be a valid alphanumeric ID'
keyNotInSchema: '[key] is not allowed by the schema'

Supported locales

(predefined for parseNumber, currency, names, native names)

af, af-ZA, am, am-ET, ar, ar-AE, ar-BH, ar-DZ, ar-EG, ar-IQ, ar-JO, ar-KW, ar-LB, ar-LY, ar-MA, ar-OM, ar-QA, ar-SA, ar-SY, ar-TN, ar-YE, arn, arn-CL, as, as-IN, az, az-Cyrl, az-Cyrl-AZ, az-Latn, az-Latn-AZ, ba, ba-RU, be, be-BY, bg, bg-BG, bn, bn-BD, bn-IN, bo, bo-CN, br, br-FR, bs, bs-Cyrl, bs-Cyrl-BA, bs-Latn, bs-Latn-BA, ca, ca-ES, co, co-FR, cs, cs-CZ, cy, cy-GB, da, da-DK, de, de-AT, de-CH, de-DE, de-LI, de-LU, dsb, dsb-DE, dv, dv-MV, el, el-GR, en, en-029, en-AU, en-BZ, en-CA, en-GB, en-IE, en-IN, en-JM, en-MY, en-NZ, en-PH, en-SG, en-TT, en-US, en-ZA, en-ZW, es, es-AR, es-BO, es-CL, es-CO, es-CR, es-DO, es-EC, es-ES, es-GT, es-HN, es-MX, es-NI, es-PA, es-PE, es-PR, es-PY, es-SV, es-US, es-UY, es-VE, et, et-EE, eu, eu-ES, fa, fa-IR, fi, fi-FI, fil, fil-PH, fo, fo-FO, fr, fr-BE, fr-CA, fr-CH, fr-FR, fr-LU, fr-MC, fy, fy-NL, ga, ga-IE, gd, gd-GB, gl, gl-ES, gsw, gsw-FR, gu, gu-IN, ha, ha-Latn, ha-Latn-NG, he, he-IL, hi, hi-IN, hr, hr-BA, hr-HR, hsb, hsb-DE, hu, hu-HU, hy, hy-AM, id, id-ID, ig, ig-NG, ii, ii-CN, is, is-IS, it, it-CH, it-IT, iu, iu-Cans, iu-Cans-CA, iu-Latn, iu-Latn-CA, ja, ja-JP, ka, ka-GE, kk, kk-KZ, kl, kl-GL, km, km-KH, kn, kn-IN, ko, ko-KR, kok, kok-IN, ky, ky-KG, lb, lb-LU, lo, lo-LA, lt, lt-LT, lv, lv-LV, mi, mi-NZ, mk, mk-MK, ml, ml-IN, mn, mn-Cyrl, mn-MN, mn-Mong, mn-Mong-CN, moh, moh-CA, mr, mr-IN, ms, ms-BN, ms-MY, mt, mt-MT, nb, nb-NO, ne, ne-NP, nl, nl-BE, nl-NL, nn, nn-NO, no, nso, nso-ZA, oc, oc-FR, or, or-IN, pa, pa-IN, pl, pl-PL, prs, prs-AF, ps, ps-AF, pt, pt-BR, pt-PT, qut, qut-GT, quz, quz-BO, quz-EC, quz-PE, rm, rm-CH, ro, ro-RO, ru, ru-RU, rw, rw-RW, sa, sa-IN, sah, sah-RU, se, se-FI, se-NO, se-SE, si, si-LK, sk, sk-SK, sl, sl-SI, sma, sma-NO, sma-SE, smj, smj-NO, smj-SE, smn, smn-FI, sms, sms-FI, sq, sq-AL, sr, sr-Cyrl, sr-Cyrl-BA, sr-Cyrl-CS, sr-Cyrl-ME, sr-Cyrl-RS, sr-Latn, sr-Latn-BA, sr-Latn-CS, sr-Latn-ME, sr-Latn-RS, sv, sv-FI, sv-SE, sw, sw-KE, syr, syr-SY, ta, ta-IN, te, te-IN, tg, tg-Cyrl, tg-Cyrl-TJ, th, th-TH, tk, tk-TM, tn, tn-ZA, tr, tr-TR, tt, tt-RU, tzm, tzm-Latn, tzm-Latn-DZ, ug, ug-CN, uk, uk-UA, ur, ur-PK, uz, uz-Cyrl, uz-Cyrl-UZ, uz-Latn, uz-Latn-UZ, vi, vi-VN, wo, wo-SN, xh, xh-ZA, yo, yo-NG, zh, zh-CHS, zh-CHT, zh-CN, zh-Hans, zh-Hant, zh-HK, zh-MO, zh-SG, zh-TW, zu, zu-ZA

Running Tests

meteor test-packages --driver-package cultofcoders:mocha universe:i18n

License

Like every package maintained by Vazco, Universe i18n is MIT licensed.