I18n is very very cool, but Ruby doesn't know it exists, which makes parsing localized strings a little difficult. With i18n_localize_core you can make regular Date and String objects abide by the formatting rules configured in your localization files, without any extra code.
./script/plugin install git://github.com/rafaelrosafu/i18n_localize_core.git
sudo gem install rafaelrosafu-i18n_localize_core Make sure you have GitHub as a gem source. You can check this out using: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ gem sources ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you need to add it, just use: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ gem sources -a http://gems.github.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You need to activate the code by explicitly adding this line to your *config/environment.rb*: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I18n.localize_core = true ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This way you won't have any surprises, the code will only be applied when it's activated, giving you the choice to use it or not.
Let's assume you have 2 locales, say default (:en) and *Brazil* (:pt-br). These
are the relevant formatting rules by each one:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# config/locale/en.yml
en:
date:
formats:
default: "%Y-%m-%d"
number:
format:
separator: '.'
delimiter: ','
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# config/locale/pt-br.yml
pt-br:
date:
formats:
default: "%d/%m/%Y"
number:
format:
separator: ','
delimiter: '.'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With i18n_localize_core you can do operations like these:
Using the new *I18n.parse_date* method, it will only allow the conversion of valid date formats according to your I18n configuration ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> I18n.locale = :en => :en >> date_var = I18n.parse_date "2009-02-20" => Fri, 20 Feb 2009 >> date_var.class => Date >> I18n.locale = :'pt-br' => :'pt-br' >> date_var = I18n.parse_date "2009-02-20" => nil >> date_var = I18n.parse_date "20/02/2009" => Fri, 20 Feb 2009 >> date_var.class => Date ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ But you can use the *Date.parse* method to parse both standard dates and now it will recognize the localized format, *if* the default conversion doesn't work: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> I18n.locale = :en => :en >> date_var = Date.parse "2009-02-20" => Fri, 20 Feb 2009 >> date_var = Date.parse "20/02/2009" => ArgumentError: invalid date >> I18n.locale = :'pt-br' => :'pt-br' >> date_var = Date.parse "2009-02-20" => Fri, 20 Feb 2009 >> date_var = Date.parse "20/02/2009" => Fri, 20 Feb 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number strings can be converted without trouble now: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> I18n.localize_core = false => false >> I18n.locale = :en => :en >> string_var = "123.45" => "123.45" >> number_var = string_var.to_f => 123.45 >> number_var.class => Float >> string_var = "98,123.45" => "98,123.45" >> number_var = string_var.to_f => 98.0 >> I18n.localize_core = true => true >> number_var = string_var.to_f => 98123.45 >> I18n.locale = :'pt-br' => :'pt-br' >> number_var = string_var.to_f => 98.12345 >> string_var = "98.123,45" => "98.123,45" >> number_var = string_var.to_f => 98123.45 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The same works for *string_var.to_i*, except by the fact that it would give us *Fixnum* objects.
Let's assume you have a *Person* ActiveRecord object, with the following
attributes:
* Person
** name
** birthday
** commits
** salary
Without i18n_localize_core if we try to do something like this, well get an
object with some empty fields and weird values:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> I18n.localize_core = false
=> false
>> I18n.locale = :'pt-br'
=> :'pt-br'
>> person = Person.new({"name" => "Jonh", "birthday" => "20/01/1980", "commits" => "2.129", "salary" => "4.934,24"})
=> <#Person id: nil, name: "John", birthday: nil, commits: 2, salary: 4.934 >
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But turning i18n_localize_core on we can be happy again:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> I18n.localize_core = true
=> true
>> person = Person.new({"name" => "Jonh", "birthday" => "20/01/1980", "commits" => "2.129", "salary" => "4.934,24"})
=> <#Person id: nil, name: "John", birthday: 1980-01-20, commits: 2129, salary: 4.934,24 >
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This kind of ActiveRecord object construction is what we get in actions like
create.
Turns i18n_localize_core functions on and off.
Gets and caches the thousand separator marker from the translations using the value under the key 'number.format.delimiter'.
Gets and caches the thousand separator marker from the translations using the value under the key 'number.format.separator'.
Parses the string as a *Date* using the locale format. Returns *nil* if it doesn't work.
Parses the string as a *Float* using the locale format. Returns 0.0 if it doesn't work.
Returns a copy of the string with its thousand separator changed to "_" and the decimal to ".", so we can convert it with Ruby
Converts the string to a *Float*. If no parameter is passed it uses de I18n.localize_core to know if it should localize the value or not. If the parameter is true, it will always try to localize and if it's false, it will not try.
Converts the string to a *Fixnum*. If no parameter is passed it uses de I18n.localize_core to know if it should localize the value or not. If the parameter is true, it will always try to localize and if it's false, it will not try.
i18n_localize_core relies heavily on some skaky interfaces from I18n. It was developed and tested with I18n version 0.0.1 under Ruby 1.8.7 patchlevel 72 and Rails 2.2.2, so be careful if you're using other versions. Another thing you should notice is that converting values from string to numbers will be formated with the current locale, so you can have weird values if you don't be careful. The code work only on String to Date or Numeric tipes, so don't worry when your not making string convertions. (At least I didn't have any problem)
If you have a problem with it, drop me an e-mail and I'll do my best to help out. If you're using it and think it's useful, drop me an e-mail :) And, of course, contribute with code if you want :)
Written by Rafael Rosa (www.rafaelrosafu.com) with contributions from Fernando Luizão (fernandoluizao.wordpress.com). Thanks to Fabio Akita (www.akitaonrails.com) for post explaining how to create gems.
Copyright © 2008 Rafael Rosa Fu, released under the MIT license