vscode-nls

What is vscode-nls?

The vscode-nls package is a localization library designed for use with Visual Studio Code extensions. It provides a simple way to localize strings in your extension, making it easier to support multiple languages.

What are vscode-nls's main functionalities?

Initialization

This feature allows you to initialize the localization library with a specific locale. The `config` method sets up the locale and returns a function that can be used to localize strings.

const nls = require('vscode-nls');
const localize = nls.config({ locale: 'en' })();

Localizing Strings

This feature allows you to localize strings using a key and a default message. The `localize` function takes a key and a default message, and returns the localized string based on the current locale.

const message = localize('key', 'Default message');

Loading Message Bundles

This feature allows you to load message bundles for localization. The `loadMessageBundle` method loads the message bundle for the current locale, which can then be used to localize strings.

const nls = require('vscode-nls');
const localize = nls.loadMessageBundle();

Other packages similar to vscode-nls

i18next

i18next is a popular internationalization framework for JavaScript. It provides a comprehensive set of features for localization, including support for multiple languages, pluralization, and interpolation. Compared to vscode-nls, i18next is more feature-rich and can be used in a variety of environments, not just Visual Studio Code extensions.

react-intl

react-intl is a library for internationalizing React applications. It provides components and APIs for formatting dates, numbers, and strings, as well as handling pluralization and translations. While vscode-nls is focused on Visual Studio Code extensions, react-intl is specifically designed for use with React applications.

globalize

Globalize is a library for internationalization and localization in JavaScript. It provides support for formatting and parsing dates, numbers, and currencies, as well as message translation. Globalize is more general-purpose compared to vscode-nls, which is tailored for Visual Studio Code extensions.

README

vscode-nls

CommonJS module to support externalization and localization. The module only depends on Node.js however its primary use case is for VSCode extensions.

Usage

import * as nls from 'vscode-nls';

let localize = nls.config({ locale: 'de-DE' })();

console.log(localize('keyOne', "Hello World"));
console.log(localize('keyTwo', "Current Date {0}", Date.now()));

The config call configures the nls module and should only be called once in the applications entry point. You pass in the locale you want to use and whether the resolved locale should be cached for all further calls. The config call returns a function which is used to load a message bundle. During development time the argument should stay empty. There is another tool that helps extracting the message from your sources and it creates the message bundles autmatically for you. The tool is available here.

In secondary modules loaded from the 'main' module no configuration is necessary. However you still need to load the nls module and load the message bundle. This looks like this:

import * as nls from 'vscode-nls';

let localize = nls.loadMessageBundle();

console.log(localize('keyOne', "Hello World"));

During development time the strings in the code are presented to the user. If the locale is set to 'pseudo' the messages are modified in the following form:

• vowels are doubled
• the string is prefixed with '\uFF3B' (Unicode zenkaku representation for [) and postfixed with '\uFF3D' (Unicode zenkaku representation for ])

History

3.0.0:

• added support to bundle the strings into a single nls.bundle(.${locale})?.json file.
• added support for VS Code language packs.

2.0.2:

• moved to TypeScript 2.1.5. Adapted to @types d.ts files instead of including typings directly into the repository.

2.0.1:

• based on TypeScritp 2.0. Since TS changed the shape of the d.ts files for 2.0.x a major version number got introduce to not break existing clients using TypeScript 1.8.x.

LICENSE

MIT