I18n (internationalization)

Learn how to internationalize everything including the contents of your forms.

Using Locales

Vueform comes with a built-in translation engine that handles different locales.

We can import locales from @vueform/vueform/locales directory, which we can add in vueform.config.js:

// vueform.config.js

import en from '@vueform/vueform/locales/en'

export default {
  locale: 'en',
  locales: { en },
  // ...
}

We also need to set the locale that should be used by default with locale option.

Customizing Locale

To add or replace tags in a local, simply override its value in the locale object. For example here's how we can replace the label of list's add button:

// vueform.config.js

import en from '@vueform/vueform/locales/en'

en.vueform.elements.list.add = 'Add item'

export default {
  locales: { en },
  // ...
}

If we'd like replace a whole locale file we can copy ./node_modules/@vueform/vueform/locales/en/index.js to our project folder, eg. ./vueform/locales/en.js.

We can use the custom version after by including that one instead of the official:

// vueform.config.js

import en from './vueform/locales/en'

export default {
  locales: { en },
  locale: 'en',
  // ...
}

Switching Locale

To switch a locale we can pass a locale option to Vueform upon installation:

import Vue from 'vue'
import Vueform from '@vueform/vueform'
import vueformConfig from './../vueform.config'

Vue.use(Vueform, {
  ...vueformConfig,
  locale: 'de'
})

To use a locale you need to include it first in vueform.config.js's locales object:

// vueform.config.js

import en from '@vueform/vueform/locales/en'
import de from '@vueform/vueform/locales/de'
import nl from '@vueform/vueform/locales/nl'

export default {
  locale: 'en',
  locales: {
    en,
    de,
    nl,
  },
  // ...
}

Switching Locale Using Options API

We can switch locale anywhere in our application using the global this.$vueform.i18n.locale object in Options API:

mounted() {
  this.$vueform.i18n.locale = 'de'
}

Switching Locale Using Composition API

From version 1.3.1 we can inject the global $vueform object in any setup() method and override the locale there using Composition API:

setup() {
  const $vueform = inject('$vueform')

  $vueform.value.i18n.locale = 'de'
}

Switching Locale Before Version 1.31

Before @vueform/vueform@1.3.1 you needed to add the locale as key to each Vueform component upon switching locale, eg: <Vueform :key="locale">.

Adding Locale

To create a new locale copy ./node_modules/@vueform/vueform/locales/en/index.js to your project folder, eg. ./vueform/locales/zh_HK.js.

After the translation tags have been translated we can add it in vueform.config.js:

// vueform.config.js

import en from '@vueform/vueform/locales/en'
import zh_TW from './vueform/locales/zh_TW'

export default {
  locale: 'en',
  locales: {
    en,
    zh_TW
  },
  // ...
}

Available Locales

Vueform is currently available in 19 languages:

• zh_CN - Chinese (Simplified) 🇨🇳
• zh_TW - Chinese (Traditional) 🇹🇼
• da - Danish 🇩🇰
• nl - Dutch 🇳🇱
• en - English 🇺🇸
• fr_CA - French (Canada) 🇨🇦
• de - German 🇩🇪
• el - Greek 🇬🇷
• hu - Hungarian 🇭🇺
• id - Indonesian 🇮🇩
• it - Italian 🇮🇹
• ja - Japanese 🇯🇵
• pt - Portuguese 🇵🇹
• pt_BR - Portuguese (Brazil) 🇧🇷
• ru - Russian 🇷🇺
• sk - Slovak 🇸🇰
• es - Spanish 🇪🇸
• tr - Turkish 🇹🇷
• uk - Ukrainian 🇺🇦

Translating Element Properties

Certain element options can be provided in multiple locales and the one that matches the current locale will be used.

Let's take label as an example:

birthday: {
  type: 'date',
  label: {
    en: 'Birthday',
    de: 'Geburtstag',
  },
}

As we can see the label is provided as an object with en and de keys. This means that if Vueform's locale is English then Birthday will be used, and if it's German then Geburtstag will be used.

Options that can be localized are indicated in their API reference by "Localizable: true" like label for DateElement.

Translating Dates

When we use DateElement or DatesElement we rely upon the locale to determine date format.

In the locale file look for vueform.dateFormats object which contains different variations of date formatting tags depending on what parts of a date our element displays.

Here's the default configuration from @vueform/vueform/locales/en/index.js:

// @vueform/vueform/locales/en/index.js

export default {
  vueform: {
    // ...
    dateFormats: {
      // date: true, time: true, seconds: true, hour24: true
      datetimeSeconds24: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss', 

      // date: true, time: true, seconds: true, hour24: false
      datetimeSeconds12: 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss a',

      // date: true, time: true, seconds: false, hour24: true
      datetime24: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm',

      // date: true, time: true, seconds: false, hour24: false
      datetime12: 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm a',

      // date: false, time: true, seconds: true, hour24: true
      timeSeconds24: 'HH:mm:ss',

      // date: false, time: true, seconds: true, hour24: false
      timeSeconds12: 'hh:mm:ss a',

      // date: false, time: true, seconds: false, hour24: true
      time24: 'HH:mm',

      // date: false, time: true, seconds: false, hour24: false
      time12: 'hh:mm a',

      // date: true, time: false
      date: 'YYYY-MM-DD',
    },
    // ...
  },
  // ...
}

Date Formatting Tokens

Here are the list of formatting tags available, based on moment.js:

Translating Elements

Elements that start with T or t- (eg. TTextElement or t-textarea-element) are translatable elements that can have multiple values in different languages.

For example:

<Vueform mulitlingual>
  <TTextElement name="title" placeholder="Title" />
  <TEditorElement name="description" placeholder="Description" />
</Vueform>

By enabling multilingual, the FormLanguages component will appear above the form, which allows us to choose the language of the translatable elements within the form.

Adding Languages

By default the languages and the initially selected langage are based on values defined in vueform.config.js:

// vueform.config.js

export default {
  languages: { // available languages
    en: 'English',
    zh: 'Chinese',
  },
  language: 'en' // initially selected language
}

We can customize languages and initial language on form level using languages and language option:

<Vueform mulitlingual language="zh" :languages="{
  en: 'English',
  zh: 'Chinese',
  nl: 'Dutch',
}">
  <TTextElement name="title" placeholder="Title" />
  <TEditorElement name="description" placeholder="Description" />
</Vueform>

Vueform has the following translatable elements:

• TTextElement
• TTextareaElement
• TEditorElement