grunt-messageformat-compiler v0.0.1

Generate compiled, localized string resources using MessageFormat

Getting Started

This plugin requires Grunt >=0.4.0

If you haven't used Grunt before, be sure to check out the Getting Started guide, as it explains how to create a Gruntfile as well as install and use Grunt plugins. Once you're familiar with that process, you may install this plugin with this command:

npm install grunt-messageformat-compiler --save-dev

Once the plugin has been installed, it may be enabled inside your Gruntfile with this line of JavaScript:

grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-messageformat-compiler');

This plugin will use MessageFormat (https://github.com/SlexAxton/messageformat.js/) to process your locale files. Currently, locale files structured as JSON or as Properties files are suppored.

Each string is expected to follow the ICU MessageFormat syntax.

There is another project called grunt-messageformat however it sadly seems to be unmaintained.

Example JSON File

{
  "test-msg-id": "This is my message",
  "results": "There {0, plural, one{ is one result } other{ are {0} results. }}."
}

Each string is referred to by it's ID, in this case test-msg-id is a very simple string. However results is a complex message with one numerical argument, and uses the ICU plural selector.

If this JSON file were named en.json, then it would be compiled as en.js, which will expose functions for each message id.

var mfunc = require('en.js');
var oneResult = mfunc().results(1);
var manyResults = mfunc().results(48);
var noResults = mfunc().results(0);

// Output: "There is one result"
console.log(oneResult);

// Output: "There are 48 results"
console.log(manyResults);

// Output: "There are 0 results"
console.log(noResults);

You can use the prefix and suffix options to wrap your JS code in AMD-style defines, Node-friend module exports, licenses, or anything else you wish.

msgfmt task

Run this task with grunt msgfmt command.

Task targets, files and options may be specified according to the grunt Configuring tasks guide.

options

prefix

Type: string Default: ''

Prepend this string to the beginning of the compiled JS file

suffix

Type: string Default: ''

Append this string to the beginning of the compiled JS file

format

Type: string Default: ''

Specify the format of the resource file(s) being processed. Only json and properties are supported values.

If left blank, then the format will be inferred from the filename's extension.

Examples

Basic Properties Files

If your webapp also uses Java in some way, then using ICU4J and a common set of language files makes the most sense. In this case, using the Properties format is most suitable.

So your project might look like this:

index.html
js/app.js
messages/en.properties
messages/fr.properties

Your english properties file (en.properties) might look like this:

results=There {0, plural, one{ is one result } other{ are {0} results }}.
greeting=Hello!

While your french one (fr.properties) might look like this:

results=Il {0, plural, zero {n'y a aucun resultat} one{ya un resultat} other{ ya {0} resultats}}.
greeting=Salut!

Your gruntfile configuration might look like this then:

grunt.initConfig({
  msgfmt: {
    allLocales: {
      files: [{ src: 'messages/**/*', dest: 'build/messages' }],
    }
  }
});

Your project will now look like this:

index.html
js/app.js
build/messages/en.js
build/messages/fr.js
messages/en.properties
messages/fr.properties

You can now load build/messages/en.js or build/messages/fr.js, depending which one you need.

RequireJS Compatible

This is a similar example to the first one, but it wraps the compiled JS files in a define() call, making them AMD compliant.

grunt.initConfig({
  msgfmt: {
    allLocales: {
      files: [{ src: 'messages/**/*', dest: 'build/messages' }],
      options: {
        prefix: "define(function() {\n return ",
        suffix: "\n});"
      }
    }
  }
});

TODO List

• Support the native ICU ResourceBundle format.
• Detect out-of-sync message files
• Treat resource files as bundles, based on the ICU standard of organization