= i18n_localize_core

= Introduction

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.

== Installation

=== As a plugin

./script/plugin install git://github.com/rafaelrosafu/i18n_localize_core.git

=== As a gem

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

== Configuration

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.

= The code

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:

=== Converting dates

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

=== Converting numbers

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.

=== Even with ActiveRecord

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.

= API

== New class methods and properties added to I18n

=== localize_core Turns i18n_localize_core functions on and off.

=== thousand_separator Gets and caches the thousand separator marker from the translations using the value under the key 'number.format.delimiter'.

=== decimal_separator Gets and caches the thousand separator marker from the translations using the value under the key 'number.format.separator'.

=== parse_date(string) Parses the string as a Date using the locale format. Returns nil if it doesn't work.

=== parse_number(string) Parses the string as a Float using the locale format. Returns 0.0 if it doesn't work.

== New instance methods added to the String class

=== as_delocalized_number Returns a copy of the string with its thousand separator changed to "_" and the decimal to ".", so we can convert it with Ruby

=== to_f(localize=nil) 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.

=== to_i(localize=nil) 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.

= End notes

== Warning

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)

== Feedback and contributions

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 :)

== Credits

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

Copyright (c) 2008 Rafael Rosa Fu, released under the MIT license