Text Mapping

Although VoerkaI18n recommends using the intuitive translation form t("VoerkaI18n is a very good internationalization solution") instead of the less intuitive form t("xxxx.xxx"), why do most internationalization solutions use the t("xxxx.xxx") form?

In our solution, the form t("VoerkaI18n is a very good internationalization solution") is equivalent to using the original text for lookup. The language files look like this:

// en.js
{
    "中华人民共和国":"the people's Republic of China"
}
// jp.js
{
    "中华人民共和国":"中華人民共和国"
}

Obviously, using the text content directly as a key is intuitive but creates a lot of redundant information. Therefore, voerkai18n compile compiles it into the following:

//idMap.js
{
    "VoerkaI18n是一个非常不错的国际化方案":"1"
}
// en.js
{
    "1":"Long live the people's Republic of China"
}
// jp.js
{
    "2":"中華人民共和国"
}

This eliminates redundancy in the en.js and jp.js files. However, t("VoerkaI18n is a very good internationalization solution") still exists in the source code files, meaning there are two copies in the entire runtime environment: one in the source code files and one in idMap.js.

To further reduce redundancy, we need to change t("VoerkaI18n is a very good internationalization solution") in the source code files to t("1"), ensuring no duplicate redundancy. Obviously, we can't manually modify the source code files, which is where a compile-time plugin provided by voerkai18n comes in.

@voerkai18n/plugins is a compile-time plugin implemented through build tools like vite/webpack/rollup. During compilation, it converts t("VoerkaI18n is a very good internationalization solution") to t("1") based on the IdMap.json file.

Therefore, in the final compiled code, each t function actually takes the form of t("1"), t("2"), t("3"), ..., t("n"). The final code still uses key for conversion, but this process is automated.

Note:

• If @voerkai18n/plugins or compile-time plugins like vite are not enabled, it will still work normally, but there will be redundant information for the default language.