handlebars-i18n

handlebars-i18n adds internationlization to handlebars.js using i18next and Intl

Usage no npm install needed!

<script type="module">
  import handlebarsI18n from 'https://cdn.skypack.dev/handlebars-i18n';
</script>

README

handlebars-i18n

handlebars-i18n adds the internationalization features of i18next to handlebars.js. It also provides date, number, and currency formatting via Intl. It can be used as node module as well as in the web browser.

Handlebars-i18n is listed amongst i18next’s framework helpers.

License: MIT Build Status Coverage Status Code Quality

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Florian Walzel, MIT License

Install

$ npm install handlebars-i18n handlebars i18next intl

Usage

Usage within node environment:

const HandlebarsI18n = require("handlebars-i18n");
HandlebarsI18n.init();

Usage in web browser:

<script src="handlebars.js"></script>
<script src="i18next.js"></script>
<script src="handlebars-i18n.js"></script>

<script>
    HandlebarsI18n.init()
</script>

Quick example

Initialize i18next with your language strings and default settings:

const i18next = require('i18next');

i18next.init({
    resources : {
        "en" : {
            translation : {
                "phrase1": "What is good?",
                "phrase2": "{{what}} is good."
            }
        },
        "de" : {
            translation: {
                "phrase1": "Was ist gut?",
                "phrase2": "{{what}} ist gut."
           }
        }
    },
    lng : "en"
});

Set your Handlebars.js data object:

let data = {
    myItem: "handlebars-i18n", 
    myPrice: 1200.99,
    myDate: "2020-03-11T03:24:00"
}

Initialize handlebars-i18n:

HandlebarsI18n.init();

Optionally configure your language specific number, currency, and date-time defaults:

 HandlebarsI18n.configure([
    ["en", "PriceFormat", {currency: "USD"}],
    ["de", "PriceFormat", {currency: "EUR"}]
]);

Finally use in template:

<p> {{__ "phrase1"}} </p>
  • returns for "en" → What is good?
<p> {{__ "phrase2" what=myItem}} </p>
  • returns for "en" → handlebars-i18n is good.
<p> {{_date myDate}} </p>
  • returns for "en" → March 11, 2020, 4:24 AM
<p> {{_price myPrice}} </p>
  • returns for "en" → $1,200.99

Further examples

:point_right: See the examples folder in the repo for more use cases and details.

Run tests

$ cd test
$ npm run test

API

__

Returns the phrase associated with the given key for the selected language. __ will take all options i18next’s t-function would take. The primary key can be passed hard encoded in the template when written in quotes:

{{__ "keyToTranslationPhrase"}}

… or it can be referenced via a handlebars variable:

{{__ keyFromHandlebarsData}}

Variable Replacement

Template usage:

{{__ "whatIsWhat" a="Everything" b="fine"}}

The i18next resource:

"en" : {
    translation : {
        "whatIsWhat": "{{a}} is {{b}}."
    }
},

Plurals

{{__ "keyWithCount" count=8}}

'en' : {
    translation : {
        'keyWithCount': '{{count}} item',
        'keyWithCount_plural': '{{count}} items',
    }
},

Override globally selected language

{{__ "key1" lng="de"}}

Will output the contents for "de" even though other language is selected.

_locale

Returns the shortcode of i18next’s currently selected language such as "en", "de", "fr", "fi" … etc.

{{_locale}}

localeIs

Checks a string against i18next’s currently selected language. Returns true or false.

{{#if (localeIs "en")}} ... {{/if}}

_date

Outputs a formated date according to the language specific conventions.

{{_date}}

If called without argument the current date is returned. Any other input date can be passed as a conventional date string, a number (timestamp in milliseconds), or a date array. _date accepts all arguments Javascript’s new Date() constructor would accept.

Date argument given as date string:

{{_date "2020-03-11T03:24:00"}}

{{_date "December 17, 1995 03:24:00"}}

Date argument given as number (milliseconds since begin of unix epoch):

{{_date 1583922952743}}

Date argument given as javascript date array [year, monthIndex [, day [, hour [, minutes [, seconds [, milliseconds]]]]]]:

{{_date "[2012, 11, 20, 3, 0, 0]"}}

Additional arguments for formatting

You can add multiple arguments for individual formatting. See Intl DateTimeFormat for your option arguments.

{{_date 1583922952743 year="2-digit" day="2-digit" timeZone="America/Los_Angeles"}}

_num

Outputs a formated number according to the language specific conventions of number representation, e.g. 4,100,000.8314 for "en", but 4.100.000,8314 for "de".

{{_num 4100000.8314 }}

Additional arguments for formatting

You can add multiple arguments for individual formatting. See Intl NumberFormat for your option arguments.

{{_num 3.14159 maximumFractionDigits=2}}

Will output 3.14 for "en", but 3,14 for "de".

_price

Outputs a formated currency string according to the language specific conventions of price representation, e.g. €9,999.99 for "en", but 9.999,99 € for "de".

{{_price 9999.99}}

Additional arguments for formatting

You can add multiple arguments for individual currency formatting. See Intl NumberFormat for your option arguments.

{{_price 1000 currency="JPY" minimumFractionDigits=2}}

How to use HandlebarsI18n.configure method

Generic language format settings

Instead of defining the formatting options for each date, number or price anew, you can configure global settings for all languages or only for specific languages.

 HandlebarsI18n.configure("all", "DateTimeFormat", {timeZone: "America/Los_Angeles"});

First argument is the language shortcode or "all" for all languages. Second is the format option you want to address (DateTimeFormat, NumberFormat, or PriceFormat). Third argument ist the options object with the specific settings.

Custom language format subsets

You can define specific subsets to be used in the template, i.e. if you want the date in different formatts such as:

  • 2020 (year only)
  • 11.3.2020 (standard date)
  • 7:24:02 (time only)

To do this define a 4th parameter with a custom name:

 HandlebarsI18n.configure([
    ["en", "DateTimeFormat", {year:'numeric'}, "year-only"], 
    ["en", "DateTimeFormat", {year:'numeric', month:'numeric', day:'numeric'}, "standard-date"], 
    ['en', 'DateTimeFormat', { hour:'numeric', minute:'numeric', second:'numeric', hour12:false}, "time-only"] 
]);

Call a subset in template wit the parameter "format", like:

{{_date myDate format="year-only"}}

The lookup cascade

The general lookup cascade is:

  • 1st Priority: The argument given in the template for custom configurations by the key "format", i.e. {{_date format="my-custom-format"}}
  • 2nd Priority: The extra argument(s) given in the template, e.g. {{_date timeZone="America/Los_Angeles" year="2-digit"}}
  • 3rd Priority: The global setting configured for the current language, such as "en"
  • 4th Priority: The global setting configured for all languages
  • Default: The Intl default setting

Example:

This defines that all prices for all languages are represented as Dollar:

 HandlebarsI18n.configure("all", "PriceFormat", {currency: "USD"});

This defines that all prices for all languages are represented as Dollar, but that for language French the currency is Euro:

 HandlebarsI18n.configure([
    ["all", "PriceFormat", {currency: "USD"}],
    ["fr", "PriceFormat", {currency: "EUR"}]
]);

Reset an existing configuration

Dismiss all existing configurations:

 HandlebarsI18n.reset();

Note

There is a different package named handlebars-i18next by Julian Gonggrijp which might also suit your needs. Cheers!