= i18n_column

== Introduction

This extension provides the capabilities of storing and retrieving translations from a single database column. The translations are stored as a JSON object i.e. {"en":"Home","de":"Zuhause"}.

The current and default locale are retrieved from the {Rails Internationalization (I18n) API}[http://guides.rubyonrails.org/i18n.html]. Set the current locale on each request with i.e. <tt>I18n.locale = :de</tt>. If not set the default locale will be taken: <tt>I18n.default_locale</tt>. <tt>I18n.locale</tt> is used as the JSON key to store a translation i.e. <tt>"en":"Home"</tt>.

<tt>i18n_column</tt> is tested with rails version 3.

== Installation

<b>Gem</b>

 gem install i18n_column

<b>Bundler</b>

 gem('i18n_column')

== Example

<b>Migration</b>

 class CreateNodes < ActiveRecord::Migration
   def self.up
     create_table(:nodes) do |t|
       t.text(:name)
     end
   end

   def self.down
     drop_table(:nodes)
   end
 end

<b>Model</b>

 class Node < ActiveRecord::Base
   i18n_column(:name)
 end

<b>Controller</b>

 class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   before_filter(:set_locale)

   private

   def set_locale
     I18n.locale = params[:locale]
   end
 end

<b>Set the default locale in config/application.rb file</b>

 config.i18n.default_locale = :de

<b>Console</b>

 I18n.locale = :en
 node = Node.create!(:name => 'Home') => {"en":"Home"}
 node.name => 'Home'
 I18n.locale = :de
 node.name = 'Zuhause'
 node.save! => {"en":"Home","de":"Zuhause"}
 node.name => 'Zuhause'

== Known issues

* Rails versions greater than <tt>3.0.1</tt>: JSON hash instead of translation is displayed in form fields. Workaround:

 f.text_field(:fname) instead of f.text_field(:name)

== Copyright

Copyright (c) 2010 Philipp Ullmann. See LICENSE for details.