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1

I want to localize my webapp. Since localization through javascript only is not recommended I thought using php would be an alternative.

So with php I read a messages.json file that stores all localization data. 

$json = file_get_contents("_locales/en/messages.json");

In the header of my webapp I generate some javascript with php according to the user's browser language.

echo "var localeObj = " . $json . ";";

So this is just a var that holds all data from the messages.json file that looks like that

{
    "extTitle": {
        "message": "Test1"
    },
    "extName":{
        "message": "Test2"
    }
}

Now I want to be able to access each item from the json like

var title = getItem("extTitle");

and it returns Test1. Any idea how to do that?

I am not very familar with json but if I just alert the localeObj it gives me just [object Object].

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4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted 
var getItem(item) {
   return localObj[item].message;
}

You could always encapsulate your i18n strings too...

(function() {

   var localObj = { ... };

   window.getItem(item) {
       return localObj[item].message;
   }

})();

This way, no other variables can possibly clobber your localObj.

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I get an missing ; before statement window.getItem(item) { } –  artworkad シ Feb 24 '11 at 9:30
 
should be localObj a string? Because it's coming as a string from the php method –  artworkad シ Feb 24 '11 at 9:37
 
@ArtWorkAD No, it shouldn't be. If it is, you'll need to parse it to JSON. –  alex Feb 24 '11 at 10:30
 
@ArtWorkAD Did you copy the code as is? JavaScript has ASI, so it shouldn't be that (unless you have an IDE complaining). Are you running this code in PHP? –  alex Feb 24 '11 at 13:37
 
works fine now, thanks! –  artworkad シ Feb 24 '11 at 13:37
up vote 1 down vote

You use array syntax [], or dot syntax ., to access javascript object properties.

Example:

localeObj["extTitle"];
localeObj.extTitle;

I would recommend reading something like this to get more familier with JSON.

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up vote 1 down vote

You can initialize javascript variable like this.

var json = eval(); alert(json.extTitle.message+ ' '+json.extName.message);
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Thanks a lot for this last submission cause it allow me to place my markers on a Google map. very efficient. –  Fred FLECHE Oct 17 '12 at 20:07
up vote 0 down vote

Inside messages.php:

<?php
header('Content-type:application/javascript');
$messages = array(
 "yes"=>"hai",
 "no"=>"iie"
);
$messages = json_encode($messages);
echo "window.messages = $messages";
?>

Inside index.html:

<html>
 <body>
 <script type="text/javascript" src="messages.php"></script>
 <script type="text/javascript">
  console.log(window.messages)
 </script>
 </body>
</html>

As long as you tell the browser to interpret the php file as a javascript file, you can echo anything you want.

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