Internationalization using react‐intl package - nicmart-dev/linguistnow GitHub Wiki

Overview

This document outlines the implementation of internationalization (i18n) using the react-intl library in a React application. String translations are externalized to a strings.json file.

Components Involved

  1. App Component
  2. LanguageProvider Component
  3. Locale Context

App Component

  • Renders the top-level component hierarchy.
  • Wraps the entire application with the LanguageProvider component to provide internationalization context.

LanguageProvider Component

  • Manages the current locale and language messages.
  • Initializes the IntlProvider from react-intl, providing localization data to the application.
  • Exposes methods to change the locale and update language messages dynamically.

Locale Context

  • Utilizes React's context API to provide locale data to child components.
  • Allows components throughout the application to access current locale and language messages.

Workflow

  1. Initialization: The LanguageProvider component initializes the application with default locale and language messages from strings.json.
  2. Locale Change: Users can change the locale through the language selector, triggering an update in the LanguageProvider.
  3. Localization: Components access localized messages from strings.json using FormattedMessage or useIntl hooks provided by react-intl.

Conclusion

This design provides a straightforward approach to implementing internationalization in a React application using the react-intl library. It centralizes locale management and provides a seamless way to handle language translations throughout the application.