Localization

Polymer.AppLocalizeBehavior wraps the format.js library to help you internationalize your application. Note that if you're on a browser that does not natively support the Intl object, you must load a polyfill yourself. An example polyfill can be found at github.com/andyearnshaw/Intl.js.

Polymer.AppLocalizeBehavior supports the same message syntax as format.js, in its entirety; use the library docs as reference for the available message formats and options.

Each element that displays content to be localized should add Polymer.AppLocalizeBehavior. All of these elements share a common localization cache, so you only need to load translations once.

AppLocalizeBehavior can be used directly in Polymer 1.x elements and Polymer 2.x hybrid elements. For class-style elements, use the mixinBehaviors method.

Install AppLocalizeBehavior

bower install --save PolymerElements/app-localize-behavior

Add localization to your app

The main application is usually responsible for loading the localized messages and setting the current language.

Sample application (class style elements)

<dom-module id="x-app">
  <template>
    <!-- use the localize method to localize text -->
    <div>{{localize('hello', 'name', 'Batman')}}</div>
  </template>
  <script>
    class XApp extends Polymer.mixinBehaviors([Polymer.AppLocalizeBehavior], Polymer.Element) {
      static get is() { return 'x-app'}

      static get properties() {
        return {
          // set the current language—shared across all elements in the app
          // that use AppLocalizeBehavior
          language: {
            value: 'en'
          },

          // Initialize locale data
          resources: {
            value() {
              return {
                'en': { 'hello': 'My name is {name}.' },
                'fr': { 'hello': 'Je m\'apelle {name}.' }
              }
            }
          }
        };
      }
    }

    customElements.define(XApp.is, XApp);
  </script>
</dom-module>

More typically, the app loads resources from an external file, as shown in the next example.

Sample application (hybrid elements)

<dom-module id="x-app">
   <template>
    <!-- use the localize method to localize text -->
    <div>{{localize('hello', 'name', 'Batman')}}</div>
   </template>
   <script>
      Polymer({
        is: "x-app",

        // include the behavior
        behaviors: [
          Polymer.AppLocalizeBehavior
        ],

        // set the current language—shared across all elements in the app
        // that use AppLocalizeBehavior
        properties: {
          language: {
            value: 'en'
          },
        }

        // load localized messages
        attached: function() {
          this.loadResources(this.resolveUrl('locales.json'));
        },
      });
   </script>
</dom-module>

The main app is also responsible for loading the Intl polyfill (not shown above).

Each element that needs to localize messages should also add the Polymer.AppLocalizeBehavior and use the localize method to translate strings, as shown above.