localized-string.md

Localized strings in vLabeler

In scripts for JSON definition files of labelers and plugins, a localized string can be used instead of a plain string.

A localized string is an object with language codes as keys and strings as values. e.g.

// in a script
let myLocalizedDescription = {
    "en": "This is a description in English.",
    "zh": "这是中文的描述。",
    "ja": "これは日本語の説明です。"
}

// inside a JSON
{
    ...,
    "description": {
        "en": "This is a description in English.",
        "zh": "这是中文的描述。",
        "ja": "これは日本語の説明です。"
    },
    ...
}

A localized string can always be assigned by a plain string, which is treated as the default language en.

// in a script
let myLocalizedDescription = "This is a description in English."

// this is equivalent to

let myLocalizedDescription = {
    "en": "This is a description in English."
}

When displaying a localized string, vLabeler will choose the string with the language code that matches the current language code in the application settings, or the default language en if no match is found, using startsWith matching.

e.g. If the current language code is en-US, the string with key en will be used. So it's recommended to use common language codes like en and zh instead of en-US and zh-CN to cover more cases.

Please note that you have to provide a default language en in your localization map, otherwise the plugin gets a parse error when being loaded.