h1. E9s

Enrichments (e9s) for internationalization (i18n) and localized pluralization

h2. Introduction

E9s was created due to the need of simply implementing I18n within a Rails application. This simplifies internationalization of your Rails application making a Rails developers life much easier. E9s is divided into modules (as gem and plugin): "Rich-i18n":http://github.com/archan937/rich_i18n and "Rich-pluralization":http://github.com/archan937/rich_pluralization. A list of E9s' features:

h3. I18n

* @Localized pluralization@ - Translations only in singular form are sufficient enough as E9s can pluralize in foreign languages
* @Default values@ - Use the translation key (or a portion) as default value: @"continue".t@ returns @"continue"@ and @"text.Welcome_to_our_site".t@ returns @"Welcome to our site"@
* @An easy interface@ - Just call the @t@ method on string or symbols to translate and @pl@ to pluralize
* @Combine translations@ - Joining keys with spaces combines translations: @"More houses".t@ returns @"Meer huizen"@ in Dutch
* @Preserve i18n meta data@ - E9s preserves the key, the actual used I18n key and the actual translation which you can enquire (this can come in handy when implementing a CMS)

h3. Formtastic

* @Labels, seatholders and default values@ - Not only translate labels, but also hint text (so called @seatholders@) and even translate default values
* @Unobtrusive implementation@ - Translate labels and seatholders unobtrusively, in other words: leave your @semantic_form_for@ (view) code completely untouched
* @Specific translations@ - Not only specify general translations for labels and seatholders, but make them model or even form specific

h3. Inflections

* @Preserve character casing@ - E9s preserves the casing in your translations: @"save".t@ returns @"bewaar"@, @"Save".t@ returns @"Bewaar"@ and @"SAVE".t@ returns @"BEWAAR"@ in Dutch
* @Preserve pluralization@ - E9s singularizes or pluralizes your translations depending on the key: @"house".t@ returns @"huis"@ and @"Houses".t@ returns @"Huizen"@ in Dutch

h2. Installation

Install the E9s gem:

<pre>
  sudo gem install e9s
</pre>

Add e9s in environment.rb as a gem dependency:

<pre>
  config.gem "e9s"
</pre>

h3. Optional

When wanting to use @seatholders@, please include @seat_holder.js@ in your template:

<pre>
  <script src="path/to/seat_holder.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</pre>

*Note*: please visit "http://github.com/archan937/seat_holder":http://github.com/archan937/seat_holder for more information about SeatHolder.

h3. Testing E9s out-of-the-box

Set the default locale to @:nl@ in @environment.rb@:

<pre>
  config.i18n.default_locale = :nl
</pre>

Run the Rails console:

<pre>
  ./script/console
</pre>

Start translating in Dutch:

<pre>
  >> "MORE HOUSES".t
  => "MEER HUIZEN"
</pre>

h2. Usage

h3. Populating config/locales

At default, I18n uses @I18n::Backend::Simple@ of which translations are stored within YAML files located in @config/locales@. When adding a new language, it is adviced to copy a YAML file from "http://github.com/svenfuchs/rails-i18n/tree/master/rails/locale":http://github.com/svenfuchs/rails-i18n/tree/master/rails/locale in which you can add your translations. Of course, you can also use other I18n backends like @I18n::Backend::ActiveRecord@ for translations stored in the database.

h3. Words

As E9s automatically singularizes or pluralizes the translation (depending on the passed key), you only have to specify translations in singular form.

*Note*: specified in @config/locales/nl.yml@

<pre>
---
nl:
  
  word:
    "yes":   ja
    "no":    nee
    house:   huis
    letter:  brief
    sign:    teken
    user:    gebruiker
    more:    meer
</pre>

h3. Pluralization

A *very powerful* feature of E9s is pluralization which resembles the inflections of @ActiveSupport::Inflector@. Unfortunately, specifying inflections within @config/initializers/inflections.rb@ also influences your Rails application and thus causes great problems.

E9s provides you to specify pluralization rules for different locales. You have to use regular expressions in order to specify them.

*Note*: specified in @config/locales/nl.yml@

<pre>
--- 
nl: 
  
  e9s:
    singular:
      - rule:          en$
        replacement:   ""

    plural:
      - rule:          ee$
        replacement:   eeën
      
      - rule:          heid$
        replacement:   heden
      
      - rule:          (c|m|n|t)us$
        replacement:   \1i
      
      - rule:        | abc, acme, acne, (a|ë|i|o|u|y)$
        replacement:   \1's
        exceptions:    (ai|eau|ei|li|lieu|ooi|ou|shampoo|spray|vlo)$
        
      - rule:          (blad|kind)$
        replacement:   \1eren
        exceptions:    (aanrecht|advertentie)blad
      
      - rule:          (e|em|el|er|erd|aar|aard|um|eur|foon|oor|ier|en|ie|eau|show|festival|é)$
        replacement:   \1s

      - rule:        | (a|e|o|u)\1([^aeiou])$
        replacement:   \1\2en
        
      - rule:        | (aï|alia)(s), 
                       ([^aeiou][aeiou])([^aeiou])$
        replacement:   \1\2\2en
        exceptions:    dal, pad, slot, vat, weg, 
                       (blad|dag|dak|engel|gat|weg)$
        
      - rule:          f$
        replacement:   ven

      - rule:          s$
        replacement:   zen

      - rule:          $
        replacement:   en
    
    irregular:
      gelid:           gelederen
    
    uncountable:
      - geld
      - informatie
      - rijst
</pre>

For a complete example, please open "http://github.com/archan937/rich_pluralization/blob/master/locales/nl.yml":http://github.com/archan937/rich_pluralization/blob/master/locales/nl.yml which contains Dutch inflections.

h3. String / Symbol methods

E9s adds the following methods to strings and symbols:

* @t@ - which translates the string or symbol
* @pl@ - which pluralizes the string or symbol with inflections of the current I18n locale

Further more, E9s has enriched the String class with other inflection methods such as @upcase_first@, @cp_case@, @upcase_first!@ and @pluralize!@. Please visit "http://github.com/archan937/rich_i18n/blob/master/lib/rich/i18n/core/string/inflections.rb":http://github.com/archan937/rich_i18n/blob/master/lib/rich/i18n/core/string/inflections.rb to see all the methods.

h3. Default values and case preservation

When not specified, E9s returns a default value based on the passed key: it splits the key on @"."@ and (sort of) humanizes the last part. Sort of, because it actually replaces @"_"@ with @" "@ and it copies the casing of the key with the @cp_case@ method of the @String@ class.

h3. Combined keys

You can combine translations by using passed string containing translation keys joined with spaces.

h3. Translation meta data with EnrichedString

When translating text, you possibly want to know the @used key@, the @actual used I18n key@ and its @actual translation@. E9s preserves just that in an @EnrichedString@ which is a subclass of @String@. Calling @.meta_data@ returns a hash with the meta data:

<pre>
  >> "MORE".t.class
  => Rich::I18n::Core::EnrichedString
  >> "MORE".t.meta_data
  => {:actual_key=>"word.more", :key=>"MORE", :actual_value=>"MEER"}
</pre>

Keep in mind that combined translations are possible and fortunately EnrichedString is able to cope with that. A concatenated translation has @merged_strings@ which contains every segments:

<pre>
  >> "More users".t
  => "Meer gebruikers"
  >> "More users".t.merged_strings
  => ["Meer", "gebruikers"]
  >> "More users".t.meta_data
  => nil
  >> "More users".t.merged_strings.first.meta_data
  => {:actual_key=>"word.more", :key=>"More", :actual_value=>"Meer"}
  >> "More users".t.merged_strings.last.meta_data
  => {:actual_key=>"word.user", :key=>"users", :actual_value=>"gebruiker"}
  >> "One".t + " " + "question".t
  => "één vraag"
  >> ("One".t + " " + "question".t).merged_strings
  => ["één", " ", "vraag"]
</pre>

h3. String.to_output

E9s adds the @to_output@ method to the String class. This returns the an @i18n tag@ with @HTML 5 attributes@ in which the translation meta data is provided:

<pre>
  >> "More users".t.to_output
  => "<i18n data-actual_key=\"word.more\" data-key=\"More\" data-actual_value=\"Meer\">Meer</i18n><i18n data-actual_key=\"word.user\" data-key=\"users\" data-actual_value=\"gebruiker\">gebruikers</i18n>"
</pre>

This can be very handy when implementing a CMS in which users change translations. Please note that "http://github.com/archan937/e9s-demo":http://github.com/archan937/e9s-demo uses this feature to highlight translations. Later on this will also be used in "Rich-CMS":http://github.com/archan937/rich_cms, a gem / plugin that makes inplace translating possible (please be patient for this to be released).

h3. I18n examples

As a result of the YAML file specified above, you will get the following translations in your Rails console:

<pre>
  >> "word.house".t
  => "huis"
  >> "word.Event".t
  => "Event"
  >> "LETTERS".t
  => "BRIEVEN"
  >> "application.index.Welcome_to_our_site".t
  => "Welcome to our site"
  >> "word.users".t
  => "gebruikers"
  >> "Signs".t
  => "Tekens"
  >> "MORE USERS".t
  => "MEER GEBRUIKERS"
  >> "More houses".t
  => "Meer huizen"
</pre>

h3. Labels and seatholders

You can translate @labels@ and @seatholders@ (placeholders :D) within Formtastic forms without altering its code.

*Note*: specified in @config/locales/nl.yml@

<pre>
---
nl:
  
  word:
    password:       wachtwoord
  
  label:
    user_name:      gebruikersnaam
    content:        bericht
    
    Question:
      content:      jouw vraag
    
    Answer:
      content:      jouw antwoord
    
    (search_form)
      criteria:     uw zoekcriteria
  
  seatholder:
    email_address:  uw.naam@een.website.nl
    
    Question:
      content:      Hoeveel uren zitten in een dag?
    
    Answer:
      content:      24 uur
    
    (search_form)
      criteria:     '&Voorbeeld'
</pre>

h2. Contact me

For support, remarks and requests please mail me at "paul.engel@holder.nl":mailto:paul.engel@holder.nl.

h2. Credit

This Rails gem depends on:

rich_pluralization<br>
"http://github.com/archan937/rich_pluralization":http://github.com/archan937/rich_pluralization

rich_i18n<br>
"http://github.com/archan937/rich_i18n":http://github.com/archan937/rich_i18n

i18n<br>
"http://github.com/svenfuchs/i18n":http://github.com/svenfuchs/i18n

Formtastic (optional)<br>
"http://github.com/justinfrench/formtastic":http://github.com/justinfrench/formtastic

SeatHolder (optional)<br>
"http://github.com/archan937/seat_holder":http://github.com/archan937/seat_holder

h2. License

Copyright (c) 2010 Paul Engel, released under the MIT license

"http://holder.nl":http://holder.nl - "http://codehero.es":http://codehero.es - "http://gettopup.com":http://gettopup.com - "http://twitter.com/archan937":http://twitter.com/archan937 - "paul.engel@holder.nl":mailto:paul.engel@holder.nl

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.