i18n-csv-loader

Purpose

A webpack loader that loads CSV files into a module.

Files like example.strings.csv

_key	en	pt
yes	Yes	Sim
no	No	Não
hello world	Hello world	Olá mundo

can be used like:

    import strings from './example.strings.csv';

    // use strings[lang][key]

    console.log(strings['en']['hello world']);  // output: "Hello world"
    console.log(strings['pt']['hello world']);  // output: "Olá mundo"

Installation

1. Install

    npm install --save i18n-csv-loader

2. Add the rule to your webpack.config.js

const config = {
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.strings\.csv$/,
                use: ['i18n-csv-loader']
            },
        ],
    },
}

Options

Option	Default	Description
key	'_key'	Header of the key column

you can set your options in webpack like

    ...
        use: [
            {
                loader: 'i18n-csv-loader',
                options: {
                    key: '_key',
                },
            },
        ],
    ...

The CSV files

• CSV files are parsed by csvtojson using the default settings which include some auto detection, but keep as close to the RF4180 specification
• empty lines or lines with an empty key column are ignored
• first line should contain the header which should contain
  • _key - indicates that this column will contain the key index used to select the string
  • headers started by _ will be ignored (useful if you want to have a descriptive column to indicate the context or indicate which tags will be supported for string replacement)
  • any other headers will be considered as language identifiers

Tools

Because sometimes is useful to merge all the strings into a single file (to share with a translator for instance), a couple of scripts are included to facilitate this job

• export-strings

  Exports all strings into a single file (a column with the filename is added to allow the import process)

  example:

      npx export-strings --files `find -name *.strings.csv` -o allstrings.csv
  

• import-strings

  Imports previously a previously exported file, updating the matching keys

  example:

      npx import-strings -i allstrings.csv
  

To do

• allow configuration of the CSV properties for non standard versions
• export and import scripts should change file paths to be relative to the project root

Credits

• CSV parsing done by csvtojson
• CSV writing handled by csvwriter