locize / xliff

xliff2js and js2xliff converter xliff utils

Download

The source is available for download from GitHub. Alternatively, you can install using npm:

npm install --save xliff

You can then import or require() xliff as normal:

import xliff from 'xliff'
// or
const xliff = require('xliff')

xliff.xliff2js(xml, (err, res) => {})

Or you can directly import or require() its functions:

import xliff2js from 'xliff/xliff2js'
// or
const xliff2js = require('xliff/cjs/xliff2js')

Usage

XLIFF 2.0

const xliff = `<xliff xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:2.0" version="2.0" srcLang="en-US" trgLang="de-CH">
  <file id="namespace1">
    <unit id="key1">
      <segment>
        <source>Hello</source>
        <target>Hallo</target>
      </segment>
    </unit>
    <unit id="key2">
      <segment>
        <source>An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents</source>
        <target>Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten</target>
      </segment>
    </unit>
    <unit id="key.nested">
      <segment>
        <source>XLIFF Data Manager</source>
        <target>XLIFF Daten Manager</target>
      </segment>
    </unit>
    <group id="group">
      <unit id="groupUnit">
        <segment>
          <source>Group</source>
          <target>Gruppe</target>
        </segment>
      </unit>
    </group>
  </file>
</xliff>`

const js = {
  "resources": {
    "namespace1": {
      "key1": {
        "source": "Hello",
        "target": "Hallo"
      },
      "key2": {
        "source": "An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents",
        "target": "Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten"
      },
      "key.nested": {
        "source": "XLIFF Data Manager",
        "target": "XLIFF Daten Manager"
      },
      "group": {
        "groupUnits":{
          "groupUnit": {
            "source": "Group",
            "target": "Gruppe"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "sourceLanguage": "en-US",
  "targetLanguage": "de-CH"
}

import xliff2js from 'xliff/xliff2js'
xliff2js(xliff, (err, res) => {
  // res is like js
})
// or without callback
const res = await xliff2js(xliff)
// res is like js

import js2xliff from 'xliff/js2xliff'
js2xliff(js, (err, res) => {
  // res is like xliff
})
// or without callback
const res = await js2xliff(js)
// res is like xliff

import targetOfjs from 'xliff/targetOfjs'
const res = targetOfjs(js)
// res is:
// {
//   "key1": "Hallo",
//   "key2": "Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten",
//   "key.nested": "XLIFF Daten Manager",
//   "group": {
//     "groupUnit": "Gruppe"
//   }
// }

import sourceOfjs from 'xliff/sourceOfjs'
const res = sourceOfjs(js)
// res is:
// {
//   "key1": "Hello",
//   "key2": "An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents",
//   "key.nested": "XLIFF Data Manager",
//   "group": {
//     "groupUnit": "Group"
//   }
// }

import createjs from 'xliff/createjs'
createjs(
  js.sourceLanguage,
  js.targetLanguage,
  {
    "key1": "Hello",
    "key2": "An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents",
    "key.nested": "XLIFF Data Manager"
  },
  {
    "key1": "Hallo",
    "key2": "Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten",
    "key.nested": "XLIFF Daten Manager"
  },
  'namespace1',
  (err, res) => {
  // res is like js
  }
  // you can specify notes with this param (ntKeys)
  // ,{
  //    "key1": "custom note for key1",
  //    "key.nested": "another note for nested key"
  // }
)
// or without callback
//const res = await createjs(...


import createxliff from 'xliff/createxliff'
createxliff(
  js.sourceLanguage,
  js.targetLanguage,
  {
    "key1": "Hello",
    "key2": "An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents",
    "key.nested": "XLIFF Data Manager"
  },
  {
    "key1": "Hallo",
    "key2": "Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten",
    "key.nested": "XLIFF Daten Manager"
  },
  'namespace1',
  (err, res) => {
  // res is like xliff  
  }  
  // you can specify notes with this param (ntKeys)
  // ,{
  //    "key1": "custom note for key1",
  //    "key.nested": "another note for nested key"
  // }
)
// or without callback
//const res = await createxliff(...

XLIFF 1.2

  const xliff = `<xliff xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2 http://docs.oasis-open.org/xliff/v1.2/os/xliff-core-1.2-strict.xsd" version="1.2" srcLang="en-US" trgLang="de-CH">
    <file original="namespace1">
      <body>
        <trans-unit id="key1">
          <source>Hello</source>
          <target>Hallo</target>
        </trans-unit>
        <trans-unit id="key2">
          <source>An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents</source>
          <target>Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten</target>
        </trans-unit>
        <trans-unit id="key.nested">
          <source>XLIFF Data Manager</source>
          <target>XLIFF Daten Manager</target>
        </trans-unit>
        <group id="group">
          <trans-unit id="groupUnit">
            <source>Group</source>
            <target>Gruppe</target>
          </trans-unit>
        </group>
      </body>
    </file>
  </xliff>`

  const js = {
    "resources": {
      "namespace1": {
        "key1": {
          "source": "Hello",
          "target": "Hallo"
        },
        "key2": {
          "source": "An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents",
          "target": "Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten"
        },
        "key.nested": {
          "source": "XLIFF Data Manager",
          "target": "XLIFF Daten Manager"
        },
        "group": {
          "groupUnits":{
            "groupUnit": {
              "source": "Group",
              "target": "Gruppe"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "sourceLanguage": "en-US",
    "targetLanguage": "de-CH"
  }

  import xliff12ToJs from 'xliff/xliff12ToJs'
  xliff12ToJs(xliff, (err, res) => {
    // res is like js
  })
  // or without callback
  //const res = await xliff12ToJs(...

  import jsToXliff12 from 'xliff/jsToXliff12'
  jsToXliff12(js, (err, res) => {
    // res is like xliff
  })
  // or without callback
  //const res = await jsToXliff12(...

  import createxliff12 from 'xliff/createxliff12'
  createxliff12(
    js.sourceLanguage,
    js.targetLanguage,
    {
      "key1": "Hello",
      "key2": "An application to manipulate and process XLIFF documents",
      "key.nested": "XLIFF Data Manager"
    },
    {
      "key1": "Hallo",
      "key2": "Eine Applikation um XLIFF Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten",
      "key.nested": "XLIFF Daten Manager"
    },
    'namespace1',
    (err, res) => {
    // res is like xliff
    }
    // you can specify notes with this param (ntKeys)
    // ,{
    //    "key1": "custom note for key1",
    //    "key.nested": "another note for nested key"
    // }
  )
  // or without callback
  //const res = await createxliff12(...

Using Inline Elements

XLIFF 1.2 and 2.x support the use of a set of XML elements within source and target declarations. In general these "inline" tags exist to specify special elements within translation strings. For example, in XLIFF 1.2 the <ph>..</ph> element is used to define a "placeholder" such as for a variable value that is substituted at runtime, e.g.:

• String: "Hello there, {fullName}"
• XLIFF 1.2: <source>Hello there, <ph>{fullName}</ph></source>

In the standard case described previously, the source and target values are string instances. A source or target value can also be defined as an Array instance.

// Simple value:
"source": "Hello there"
// Value with multiple child elements:
"source": ["Hello ", "there"]

(Note that in this example there's no benefit from splitting the string into two strings wrapped in an array.)

When the source and target values are Array instances, the elements of the Array contain strings (representing plain text) or objects (representing XLIFF inline elements). The structure for those objects is described next.

Inline element object structure

An object representing an inline element has the following structure:

{
  [<Element Type>]: {
    "id": "<Value>",
    "contents": "<Element Contents>",
    "<Other Property 1>": "<Other Property 1 Value>",
    ...
    "<Other Property N>": "<Other Property N Value>"
  }
}

The parts are:

• <Element Type>: A string (used as a property name) indicating the element type.
• id property: The value of the XLIFF element's id attribute
• contents property: The contents of the XLIFF element, if supported. This value can be a string or array and is treated like the source/target values.
• All other properties: Map directly to attributes of the XLIFF element tag

Here's a real-world example:

{
  "Span": {
    "id": "dataType",
    "contents": "{dataType}",
    "ctype": "x-python-brace-param"
  }
}

This maps to the following XLIFF inline element structure:

<ph id="dataType" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{dataType}</ph>

Full inline element example

The following code shows a full object structure for one type of XLIFF inline element (Generic span), and the corresponding XLIFF 1.2 and XLIFF 2.0 that it produces. For other examples of different element types, see the inline element test fixtures

Strings

key1:
source: "Hello {name}"
target: "Hallo {name}"

key2:
source: "An application to manipulate and process {doctype} documents."
target: "Eine Applikation um {doctype} Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten"

JSON

{
  "resources": {
    "namespace1": {
      "key1": {
        "source": [
          "Hello ",
          {
            "GenericSpan": {
              "id": "name",
              "ctype": "x-python-brace-param",
              "contents": "{name}"
            }
          }
        ],
        "target": [
          "Hallo ",
          {
            "GenericSpan": {
              "id": "name",
              "ctype": "x-python-brace-param",
              "contents": "{name}"
            }
          }
        ]
      },
      "key2": {
        "source": [
          "An application to manipulate and process ",
          {
            "GenericSpan": {
              "id": "doctype",
              "ctype": "x-python-brace-param",
              "contents": "{doctype}"
            }
          },
          " documents"
        ],
        "target": [
          "Eine Applikation um ",
          {
            "GenericSpan": {
              "id": "doctype",
              "ctype": "x-python-brace-param",
              "contents": "{doctype}"
            }
          },
          " Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "sourceLanguage": "en-US",
  "targetLanguage": "de-CH"
}

XLIFF 1.2

<xliff xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2 http://docs.oasis-open.org/xliff/v1.2/os/xliff-core-1.2-strict.xsd" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2" version="1.2">
  <file original="namespace1" datatype="plaintext" source-language="en-US" target-language="de-CH">
    <body>
      <trans-unit id="key1">
        <source>Hello 
          <g id="name" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{name}</g>
        </source>
        <target>Hallo 
          <g id="name" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{name}</g>
        </target>
      </trans-unit>
      <trans-unit id="key2">
        <source>An application to manipulate and process 
          <g id="doctype" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{doctype}</g> documents
        </source>
        <target>Eine Applikation um 
          <g id="doctype" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{doctype}</g> Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten
        </target>
      </trans-unit>
    </body>
  </file>
</xliff>

XLIFF 2.0

<xliff xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:2.0" version="2.0" srcLang="en-US" trgLang="de-CH">
  <file id="namespace1">
    <unit id="key1">
      <segment>
        <source>Hello 
          <pc id="name" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{name}</pc>
        </source>
        <target>Hallo 
          <pc id="name" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{name}</pc>
        </target>
      </segment>
    </unit>
    <unit id="key2">
      <segment>
        <source>An application to manipulate and process 
          <pc id="doctype" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{doctype}</pc> documents
        </source>
        <target>Eine Applikation um 
          <pc id="doctype" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{doctype}</pc> Dokumente zu manipulieren und verarbeiten
        </target>
      </segment>
    </unit>
  </file>
</xliff>

Supported inline element types

XLIFF 1.2 and XLIFF 2.x define different sets of inline elements. However, the underlying semantics of many of the elements are the same and they can be mapped to each other. The supported element types are:

Element type	Use Case	Representation (1.2)	Representation (2.0)
Generic
Standalone	Standalone code	<x/>	<ph/>
GenericSpan	Well-formed spanning code	<g></g>	<pc></pc>
GenericSpanStart	Start marker of spanning code	<bx/>	<sc/>
GenericSpanEnd	End marker of spanning code	<ex/>	<ec/>
Native code (same as generic for 2.0)
Span	Well-formed spanning code	<ph></ph>	<pc></pc>
SpanStart	Start marker of spanning code	<bpt></bpt>	<sc/>
SpanEnd	End marker of spanning code	<ept></ept>	<ec/>

Note that there are additional inline elements defined in the XLIFF specifications that are not supported by this library, and are not listed here.

These types are defined as constants in inline-elements/ElementTypes.js

Although both XLIFF versions define Generic element types, only XLIFF 1.2 defines Native element types. This library uses a "superset" approach to allow for compatibility between its data model and the different XLIFF versions. For example, an object representation of an XLIFF value that includes a Span (Native spanning code) is converted to a <pc>..</pc> element in XLIFF 2.0, even though XLIFF 2.0 doesn't technically support Native elements.

The rules for mapping between element types are as follows:

JS -> XLIFF 1.2 Elements are written as their corresponding types

JS -> XLIFF 2.0 Elements are written as their corresponding types. Native/generic types are mapped to the same XLIFF element type

XLIFF 1.2 -> JS Elements are read as their corresponding types

XLIFF 2.0 -> JS Elements are read as their corresponding (non-generic) types

As a result, you should be able to have "roundtrip" support for converting between JavaScript and XLIFF. The only exception is if an XLIFF 1.2 value is converted to JavaScript, then to XLIFF 2, then back to JavaScript, then to XLIFF 1.2. In that case the Native inline elements will be converted to XLIFF 1.2 Generic elements.

Helpers for creating inline element objects

If you need to create your own inline element objects to construct a source or target array, you can use the makeInlineElement() function.

For example, suppose you have this string:

"Hello {name}"

You want to use it as a source value containing two parts -- the string "Hello " and a Generic Span element containing the placeholder variable "{name}", so that the end result (in XLIFF 1.2) should look like this:

<source>Hello 
  <g id="name" ctype="x-python-brace-param">{name}</g>
</source>

You can create this structure using the makeInlineElement() function with the following code:

// import or require makeInlineElements and ElementTypes
// signature: makeInlineElement(type, id, attributes, contents)
var attributesObj = { ctype: 'x-python-brace-param' }
var inlineElementObj = makeInlineElement(ElementTypes.GenericSpan, 'name', attributesObj, '{name}')

var source = [ 'Hello ', inlineElementObj ]

Additional attributes example

It is possible to pass additionalAttributes to your js file. These will be added to the <trans-unit> element in xliff:

const js = {
  "resources": {
    "namespace1": {
      "key1": {
        "source": "Hello",
        "target": "Hallo",
        "additionalAttributes": {
          "translate": "no",
          "approved": "yes"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Of course, this also works the other way around:

const xliff = `<xliff xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:2.0" version="2.0" srcLang="en-US" trgLang="de-CH">
  <file id="namespace1">
    <unit id="key1" translate="no" approved="yes">
      <segment>
        <source>Hello</source>
        <target>Hallo</target>
      </segment>
    </unit>
  </file>
</xliff>`