Strong i18n

Simply the best way to internationalize your Node.js app if you're serious about your work.

Install It

Add it to your package.json:

"dependencies": {
    ...
  , "strong": ">= 0.1.0"
}

And then install app dependencies:

npm install -d

Use It

strong.translate() is aliased to t() and i18n() for use in your views.

CoffeeScript:

views/home/index.eco:

<h1><%= @t 'title' %></h1>
OR
<h1><%= @i18n 'title' %></h1>

app.coffee:

@configure ->
  @register '.eco' strong.decorator( zappa.adapter 'eco' )

locales/home/index_en.json:

{
  "title": "My Page Title"
}

Javascript:

views/home/index.ejs:

<h1><%= t('title') %></h1>
OR
<h1><%= i18n('title') %></h1>

app.js:

app.register('.ejs', strong.decorator(require('ejs')));

locales/home/index_en.json:

{
  "title": "My Page Title"
}

Express middleware

The is an optional Express middleware you can use that will parse the Accept-Language header and set a locale property in your Express locals for use in your templates (res.locals.locale). strong.translate (or the t or i18n aliases) will automatically lookup the locale set by the middleware

CoffeeScript:

app.coffee:

app.dynamicHelpers
      locale: strong.localeHelper

Javascript:

app.js:

app.dynamicHelpers({
    locale: strong.localeHelper
});

Stuff You Care About

• Each view has its own translations file.
• Translation keys are organized into a hierarchy to match your views.
• If a translation key isn't found at one level, it backs up the hierarchy looking for it.
• It's separated into an API and a simple default backend, which you can replace.
• It "just works" with Zappa when you use Eco and EJS with Express. Other templating libraries may work.
• Works in CoffeeScript and JavaScript.
• Supports region-specific locales (pt-PT, pt-BR, en-GB) as well as simple locales (en, es, de)
• locale can be an array (['pt-BR', 'pt', 'es', 'en-GB', 'en']) and it will look up the best match in order

How To Run the Unit Tests

Just use npm:

npm test

Write Your Own Backend

Want to store your translations in Redis, MongoDB, or some other cool new thing? It's easy. The API will handle all the substitutions, and selection among pluralization options.

API-Backend Contract

This is how the API will expect to access the translations.

Replace the storage backend

strong.back = require('strong-redis');

It must respond to navigate calls like this:

# All keys will be of the form '<locale>.<path>.<key>'
strong.back.navigate('en.home.index.title');

When that key corresponds to a message that should be pluralized, return a Map:

{
    'one': '1 message'
  , 'other': '%{count} messages'
}

Otherwise, simply return the string:

'Hello, %{name.first}'

And you're done!