Localization

TL;DR

Using Localized Strings

The snippets below show how to use localized strings in core Brackets code.

In JavaScript

var Strings = require("strings"); // load the Strings module
...
$("<span/>").text(Strings.CMD_ABOUT); // insert a localized string

In an HTML template

<!-- templateContent.html -->
<span>{{CMD_ABOUT}}</span>

/* JavaScript */
var Strings = require("strings"),
    templateContent = require("text!templateContent.html"); // load text content of template file

var html = Mustache.render(templateContent, Strings); // use Mustache to insert translated strings

String concatenation

Because word order varies between languages, don't assume you can append separate strings together in a fixed order (e.g. using + in JavaScript). Instead, make a single parameterized string:

1. Let's say you need to make a message that looks like "Current position: item I out of N."
2. Figure out which parts vary dynamically: "I" and "N" in this case.
3. Add parameterized string in strings.js: CURRENT_POSITION: "Current position: item {0} out of {1}",
4. Dynamically substitute values in JavaScript: StringUtils.format(Strings.CURRENT_POSITION, currentIndex, items.length)

TODO: explain how to do this in HTML/Mustache strings...

Implementation Details

Brackets uses the i18n plugin for RequireJS to load translations. The locale is determined by brackets.app.language (navigator.language isn't used due to a CEF3 bug). Our main strings module re-exports the root bundle (i.e. require("i18n!nls/strings.js")). Client code should only use the main strings module (i.e. require("strings")).

As of Sprint 13, brackets-shell hardcodes strings for both English and French, primarily for the limited set of native menus. Once native menus are implemented, there will be no translated strings in brackets-shell.

Creating or Updating/Improving Translations

Creating new translations - README

Localizing Extensions

How to Localize Your Extension - README (part of the sample localized extension included in the Brackets source)