Adding localization to the dashboard

Set up localization for your dashboard.

Overview

This is the second part of our guide to building a Custom Dashboard. This part continues work on the dashboard we built in part one: Creating a Custom Dashboard. It further shows how to handle localization in a custom dashboard.

The steps we will go through in second part are:

Setup Localization Files

In the welcome-dashboard folder create a new folder called "Localization"
Then create two new files en.js and da-dk.js:

Add the following code to en.js

/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/Localization/en.js

export default {
  welcomeDashboard: {
    label: "Welcome Dashboard",
    heading: "Welcome",
    bodytext: "This is the Backoffice. From here, you can modify the content, media, and settings of your website.",
    copyright: "© Sample Company 20XX",
  }
};

Add the following code to da-dk.js

/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/Localization/da-dk.js

export default {
  welcomeDashboard: {
    label: "Velkomst Dashboard",
    heading: "Velkommen",
    bodytext: "Dette er Backoffice. Herfra kan du ændre indholdet, medierne og indstillingerne på din hjemmeside.",
    copyright: "© Sample Selskab 20XX",
  }
};

Register Localization Files

Now let's update the umbraco-package.json file from the welcome-dashboard folder to register our new localization files:

umbraco-package.json

{
  ...
  "extensions": [
    {...},
    {
      "type": "localization",
      "alias": "MyPackage.Localize.En",
      "name": "English",
      "meta": {
        "culture": "en"
      },
      "js": "/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/Localization/en.js"
    },
    {
      "type": "localization",
      "alias": "MyPackage.Localize.DaDK",
      "name": "Danish",
      "meta": {
        "culture": "da-dk"
      },
      "js": "/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/Localization/da-dk.js"
    }
  ]
}

Run npm run build in the welcome-dashboard folder and then run the project.

See the entire file: umbraco-package.json

umbraco-package.json

{
  "$schema": "../../umbraco-package-schema.json",
  "name": "My.WelcomePackage",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "extensions": [
    {
      "type": "dashboard",
      "alias": "my.welcome.dashboard",
      "name": "My Welcome Dashboard",
      "element": "/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/dist/welcome-dashboard.js",
      "elementName": "my-welcome-dashboard",
      "weight": -1,
      "meta": {
        "label": "#welcomeDashboard_label",
        "pathname": "welcome-dashboard"
      },
      "conditions": [
        {
          "alias": "Umb.Condition.SectionAlias",
          "match": "Umb.Section.Content"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "localization",
      "alias": "MyPackage.Localize.En",
      "name": "English",
      "meta": {
        "culture": "en"
      },
      "js": "/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/Localization/en.js"
    },
    {
      "type": "localization",
      "alias": "MyPackage.Localize.DaDK",
      "name": "Danish",
      "meta": {
        "culture": "da-dk"
      },
      "js": "/App_Plugins/welcome-dashboard/Localization/da-dk.js"
    }
  ]
}

We can use the umb-localize element to get the localizations out, which takes a key property in.

Using the Localization Files

Let's start using the localizations. In the umbraco-package.json file, we will already be using the #welcomeDashboard_label key for the dashboard label. Go ahead and replace "label": "Welcome Dashboard" with "label": "#welcomeDashboard_label".

The # is used to indicate that the value is a key and not a string.

We will now use the umb-localize element to get the translations for the dashboard. Update the welcome-dashboard.element.ts:

welcome-dashboard.element.ts

render() {
    return html`
      <h1>
        <umb-localize key="welcomeDashboard_heading">Welcome</umb-localize>
        Dashboard
      </h1>
      <div>
        <p>
          <umb-localize key="welcomeDashboard_bodytext">
            This is the Backoffice. From here, you can modify the content,
            media, and settings of your website.
          </umb-localize>
        </p>
        <p>
          <umb-localize key="welcomeDashboard_copyright">
            © Sample Company 20XX
          </umb-localize>
        </p>
      </div>
    `;
  }

Run npm run build in the welcome-dashboard folder and then run the project.

See the entire file: welcome-dashboard.element.ts

welcome-dashboard.element.ts

import { LitElement, css, html, customElement} from "@umbraco-cms/backoffice/external/lit";
import { UmbElementMixin } from "@umbraco-cms/backoffice/element-api";

@customElement('my-welcome-dashboard')
export class MyWelcomeDashboardElement extends UmbElementMixin(LitElement) {

  render() {
    return html`
      <h1>
        <umb-localize key="welcomeDashboard_heading">Welcome</umb-localize>
        Dashboard
      </h1>
      <div>
        <p>
          <umb-localize key="welcomeDashboard_bodytext">
            This is the Backoffice. From here, you can modify the content,
            media, and settings of your website.
          </umb-localize>
        </p>
        <p>
          <umb-localize key="welcomeDashboard_copyright">
            © Sample Company 20XX
          </umb-localize>
        </p>
      </div>
    `;
  }

  static styles = [
    css`
      :host {
        display: block;
        padding: 24px;
      }
    `,
  ];
}

export default MyWelcomeDashboardElement;

declare global {
  interface HTMLElementTagNameMap {
    'my-welcome-dashboard': MyWelcomeDashboardElement;
  }
}

The dashboard's text will appear depending on the user's language.

If the user's language is Danish, the dashboard will use the text from our da-dk file.
If the user's language is English, the dashboard will use the text from our en file.
If the key is not found in the current language, the fallback language (en) will be used.

The text between the open and close tags of umb-localize is the fallback value. This is used in case the key can't be found at all.

This is how our dashboard should now look like:

Tip: If you do not have many translations, you can also choose to include the localizations directly in the meta-object. Read more about translations in the Localization article.

Going Further

With the part completed, you should have a dashboard welcoming your users' language.

In the next part, we will look into how to add more functionality to the dashboard using some of the Contexts that Umbraco offers.

PreviousCreating a Custom Dashboard NextAdding functionality to the Dashboard

Last updated 21 days ago

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