@elsoul/fresh-i18n

@elsoul/fresh-i18n is an efficient and adaptable internationalization (i18n) plugin designed specifically for Deno’s Fresh v2 framework. It enables easy language management within your Fresh app, providing JSON-based translations, automatic locale detection, and optimized data loading for an edge-native experience.

Features

• Automatic Locale Detection: Seamlessly detects the user’s language from URL parameters, defaulting to a specified language when needed.
• Modular Translation Loading: Organize translations by namespaces for structured, optimized JSON loading.
• Intuitive API: Fetch translations via useTranslation() and access or switch locales with useLocale().
• Optimized for Deno Edge: Designed to work efficiently in edge environments, leveraging Deno’s performance.
• Dynamic Language Switching: Allows for real-time language changes within components without a page reload.

Installation

Install via JSR

import { i18nPlugin } from 'jsr:@elsoul/fresh-i18n'

Install via Deno Land

import { i18nPlugin } from 'https://deno.land/x/fresh_i18n/mod.ts'

Usage

Step 1: Register the Plugin

In your main.ts, initialize the plugin with available languages, default locale, and translation directory. This setup automatically detects the preferred locale based on the URL.

import { App, fsRoutes, staticFiles, trailingSlashes } from 'fresh'
import { i18nPlugin, type TranslationState } from '@elsoul/fresh-i18n'

export const app = new App<{ state: TranslationState }>({
  root: import.meta.url,
})
  .use(staticFiles())
  .use(trailingSlashes('never'))
  .use(i18nPlugin({
    languages: ['en', 'ja'], // Supported languages
    defaultLanguage: 'en', // Default language
    localesDir: './locales', // Path to locale JSON files
  }))

await fsRoutes(app, {
  loadIsland: (path) => import(`./islands/${path}`),
  loadRoute: (path) => import(`./routes/${path}`),
})

if (import.meta.main) {
  await app.listen()
}

Step 2: Create Locale JSON Files

Inside the locales directory, create subfolders for each locale and organize translation keys in namespace files. These files are loaded dynamically based on the URL structure.

For example, if the URL is https://example.com/en/company/profile, the plugin will load the following files (if they exist):

• ./locales/en/common.json (always loaded as the base translation)
• ./locales/en/company.json
• ./locales/en/profile.json

Each of these files corresponds to a “namespace” in the translation data. If a file does not exist, it is skipped without an error, ensuring flexibility.

Example: locales/en/common.json

{
  "welcome": "Welcome",
  "title": "Home"
}

Example: locales/ja/common.json

{
  "welcome": "ようこそ",
  "title": "ホーム"
}

Step 3: Use Translations in Components

Leverage useTranslation() and useLocale() hooks in components to access translations and handle language switching dynamically.

import { useLocale, useTranslation } from '@elsoul/fresh-i18n'

export default function IslandsComponent() {
  const { t } = useTranslation('common') // Uses "common" namespace
  const { locale, changeLanguage } = useLocale()

  return (
    <div>
      <h1>{t('title')}</h1> {/* Outputs "Home" or "ホーム" */}
      <p>{t('welcome')}</p> {/* Outputs "Welcome" or "ようこそ" */}
      <p>Current language: {locale}</p>
      <button onClick={() => changeLanguage('en')}>English</button>
      <button onClick={() => changeLanguage('ja')}>日本語</button>
    </div>
  )
}

Define an Extended State with TranslationState

If you are managing additional global state in your Fresh app, such as metadata or theme settings, you can extend TranslationState to include your own properties. This extended state can then be used across your app, with translation data (t) accessible directly in request handlers, enabling Server-Side Rendering (SSR) with fully localized content.

Example

In the following example, TranslationState from @elsoul/fresh-i18n is combined with a custom State interface to create ExtendedState. This ExtendedState includes both translation data and other application-specific properties, making it convenient for global state management.

ExtendedState can then be used in request handlers to access translation data directly via ctx.state.t, enabling SSR with localized data.

import { createDefine } from 'fresh'
import type { TranslationState } from '@elsoul/fresh-i18n'

interface State {
  title?: string
  lang?: string
  theme?: string
  description?: string
  ogImage?: string
  noIndex?: boolean
}

// Combine TranslationState with custom State properties
export type ExtendedState = State & TranslationState

// Define the extended state for use in your Fresh app
export const define = createDefine<ExtendedState>()

// Example usage in a route handler
export const handler = define.handlers({
  GET(ctx) {
    console.log('ctx', ctx.state.t) // Access translation data directly
    return page()
  },
})

API Reference

i18nPlugin(options)

Registers the i18n middleware for handling translation loading and locale management.

• Options:
  • languages (string[]): An array of supported languages (e.g., ['en', 'ja']).
  • defaultLanguage (string): The default language code, used if no locale is detected.
  • localesDir (string): Path to the directory containing locale files.

useTranslation(namespace: string)

Hook to access translation strings within a specified namespace.

• Parameters:
  • namespace (string): Namespace identifier to load relevant translations.

useLocale()

Hook to retrieve and change the current locale.

• Returns:
  • locale (string): Current locale code.
  • changeLanguage (function): Function to update the locale.

Link Component

A custom Link component that maintains the current locale in app-internal links for consistent navigation.

import { Link } from '@elsoul/fresh-i18n';

<Link href="/about">About Us</Link> {/* Locale-aware navigation */}

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please submit any issues or pull requests via GitHub.

License

This package is open-source, available under the Apache-2.0 License.