toolforge_i18n documentation

toolforge_i18n is a library for making Wikimedia Toolforge tools written in Python translatable. It’s especially geared towards Flask based tools – if your tool uses Flask, please see Using toolforge_i18n in a Flask tool. If your tool does not use Flask, see Using toolforge_i18n in a non-Flask tool. You can also review the API Reference at your convenience.

Features

  • Make your tool translatable into dozens, potentially hundreds of languages!

  • Easy integration with translatewiki.net by reusing MediaWiki message file syntax.

  • Full support for the magic words {{GENDER:}} and {{PLURAL:}}, as well as for hyperlink syntax ([url text]) and list formatting.

  • By default, support for a MediaWiki-like ?uselang= URL parameter, including ?uselang=qqx to see message keys.

  • Correct conversion between MediaWiki language codes and HTML language codes / IETF BCP 47 language tags; for instance, ?uselang=simple produces <html lang="en-simple">.

  • Correct lang= and dir= in the face of language fallback: messages that (due to language fallback) don’t match the surrounding markup are automatically wrapped in a <span> with the right attributes. (Even MediaWiki doesn’t do this! Though, admittedly, MediaWiki doesn’t have the luxury of assuming that every message can be wrapped in a <span> – many MediaWiki messages are block elements that would rather need a <div>.)

  • Includes checks to ensure all translations are safe, without unexpected elements (e.g. <script>) or attributes (e.g. onclick=), to protect against XSS attacks from translations. The tests are automatically registered via a pytest plugin and also run at tool initialization time.