Gibberish Gem¶ ↑

This is the Gem version of Gibberish Plugin

More information about the Plugin please see below, or at github.com/defunkt/gibberish

Install¶ ↑

Put this line into Gemfile gem ‘gibberish’, :git => “git://github.com/SysMO-DB/gibberish.git”

Gibberish Plugin¶ ↑

Yet another localization library. Maybe with the most agreeable API?

Usage¶ ↑

It’s simple. Your default language, by default, is English (:en).

>> "Hey there!"[:hey]
=> "Hey there!"

Gibberish looks in RAILS_ROOT/lang/*.yml for translation files. Say you have RAILS_ROOT/lang/es.yml, right? Gibberish will detect that you know about the :es language and will serve up translations defined in that file if requested to do so.

Here’s a real simple example file (it’s just “key: translation”):

$ cat lang/es.yml
hey: ¡Hey allí!

And, as follows, a real simple example session:

>> "Hey there!"[:hey]
=> "Hey there!"
>> Gibberish.current_language
=> :en
>> Gibberish.current_language = :es
=> :es
>> "Hey there!"[:hey]
=> "¡Hey allí!"
>> Gibberish.current_language = nil
=> nil
>> "Hey there!"[:hey]
=> "Hey there!"

It even works with simple interpolation:

>> "Hey, {name}!"[:hey_name, 'Chris']   
=> "Hey, Chris!"
>> "{name} is from {place}"[:hey_place, 'Chris', 'the Dreamworld']
=> "Chris is from the Dreamworld"

Notice we don’t use hashes (#) like normal Ruby interpolation. Also, the names of the variables in the brackets don’t really mean much. Interpolation is done in order – the first argument replaces the first variable in brackets, the second the second, etc.

Interpolation can also be done via hash:

>> "{name} is from {place}"[:hey_place, { :place => 'Gotham City', :name => 'Batman' }]
=> "Batman is from Gotham City"

This of course works with your translations:

$ cat lang/es.yml
hey: ¡Hey allí!
hey_name: ¡Hola {name}!

>> "Hey, {name}!"[:hey_name, 'Chris']   
=> "Hey, Chris!"
>> Gibberish.current_language = :es
=> :es
>> "Hey, {name}!"[:hey_name, 'Cristóbal']   
=> ¡Hola Cristóbal!

Neat. What other methods do we get?

The classic around_filter:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  around_filter :set_language

private
  def set_language
    Gibberish.use_language(session[:language]) { yield }
  end
end

For the duration of the block, :es is set as the language of choice. After the block is run everything returns to normal. Rad.

Finally, some checking methods, if you need them:

>> Gibberish.default_language?
=> true
>> Gibberish.current_language = :es
=> :es
>> Gibberish.current_language 
=> :es
>> Gibberish.default_language?
=> false

Languages are loaded by default at Rails startup. In dev mode, language YAML files are reloaded when modified. No need to reboot the server.

>> Gibberish.load_languages!
=> [:es, :fr, :de, :kl]
>> Gibberish.languages
=> [:es, :fr, :de, :kl]

More as it’s needed.

Warning¶ ↑

By default, Ruby returns nil when a symbol is passed to String’s [] method. Some of Rails, it seems, depends on this behavior. Yes, I am changing !!core Ruby behavior!! The humanity!

To deal with this assumption, Gibberish has a reserved_keys array. It, by default, contains :limit (so Rails migrations don’t explode on you.) To add to this array, just pass it more keys:

>> Gibberish.add_reserved_key :another_key
=> [:limit, :another_key]
>> Gibberish.add_reserved_keys :more, :keys
=> [:limit, :another_key, :more, :keys]

You’ve been warned. It really shouldn’t affect you, though.

>> Chris Wanstrath

> chris[at]ozmmorg¶ ↑