# Localization The interface ships in the language it is written in (English) plus every language in the table in `crates/ui-egui/src/i18n.rs`. Today that is English, Simplified Chinese (`zh-hans`), Traditional Chinese (`zh-hant`, Taiwan), Japanese (`ja`), Brazilian Portuguese (`pt-br`), Spanish (`es`), German (`de`), Russian (`ru`) and French (`fr`). This file is the reference for **adding or maintaining a language**; the per-language notes are in [`localization-zh-hans.md`](localization-zh-hans.md), [`localization-zh-hant.md`](localization-zh-hant.md), [`localization-ja.md`](localization-ja.md), [`localization-pt-br.md`](localization-pt-br.md), [`localization-es.md`](localization-es.md), [`localization-de.md`](localization-de.md) and [`localization-ru.md`](localization-ru.md). ## Adding a language 1. **Translate the two catalogs.** Copy `locales/ja.json` and `locales/ja-formats.json` to `locales/.json` and `locales/-formats.json`, then translate the values. Keys are the English source strings and must stay byte-for-byte identical. The plain catalog may grow at its own pace: a message it lacks shows in English, and `cargo test -p lightcraft-ui-egui i18n::tests -- --nocapture` lists the gaps (it fails on an empty entry or mismatched placeholders). The formats catalog must carry every message (the build fails otherwise; a message copied in English, value equal to its key, is an untranslated placeholder until someone translates it), including the date patterns (`{year}`, `{month} {year}`, `{weekday}, {day} {month} {year}`…) that date headings and capture times use in every language but English; weekday names go in the plain catalog. 2. **Add the table entry** in `crates/ui-egui/src/i18n.rs`: ```rust language_table! { En, "en"; ZhHans, "zh-hans", "简体中文", "Hans", include_str!("../locales/zh-hans.json"); ZhHant, "zh-hant", "繁體中文(台灣)", "Hant", include_str!("../locales/zh-hant.json"); Ja, "ja", "日本語", "Jpan", include_str!("../locales/ja.json"); PtBr, "pt-br", "Português (Brasil)", "Latn", include_str!("../locales/pt-br.json"); De, "de", "Deutsch", "Latn", include_str!("../locales/de.json"); Ru, "ru", "Русский", "Cyrl", include_str!("../locales/ru.json"); Uk, "uk", "Українська", "Cyrl", include_str!("../locales/uk.json"); } ``` The fields are the BCP-47 code (also the settings-file value), the **endonym** shown in the Language menu, the ISO 15924 script (`Latn`, `Jpan`, `Hans`, `Hant`, `Kore`…), and the embedded catalog. `build.rs` picks up `-formats.json` by name, so the macro and the format lookup follow automatically. Add the corresponding `app.language.` entry to `LANGUAGE_COMMANDS` and `language_from_command` in `src/menus.rs`, and to the `language_commands_cover_every_language` test. Settings read the locale table; menus and the control channel share the language-command mapping. 3. **Make sure the glyphs exist.** The script drives which craft-fonts faces the UI installs: a language whose script has no face in the build shows boxes (the test says so instead of failing). Fonts live in [storytold/craft-fonts](https://github.com/storytold/craft-fonts), never here; a missing face is added there, not worked around in this repository. 4. Run `cargo xtask ci` (it includes `fmt`, `clippy`, the tests, `parity` and the wasm check). ## How a message is found `tr("Exposure")` looks the English label up in the active language's catalog and returns the source text unchanged when there is no entry; `tr_format!` handles text with runtime values. Both are presentation-only: command ids, file names and user-entered metadata are never translated. A few messages take a **context**, for a word whose shared translation reads wrongly in one place. The catalog may then carry `"|"`, which wins there; without it the plain message is used, so only the languages that need it add one. Today the one context is `smart album value`: the Yes / No of a yes/no rule (Has Edits, Cropped…). Japanese uses it because はい / いいえ answer a question rather than describe a photo (`"smart album value|Yes": "あり"`, `"smart album value|No": "なし"`); every other language uses its plain Yes / No. A contextual key that names no real value fails the i18n tests. `tr_format!` is generated by `crates/ui-egui/build.rs`: one arm per English message, which formats the active language's translation with `format!` (English is the fallback arm). Every catalog's format string is therefore checked by Rust against the call site's own arguments: ```rust tr_format!("Added {n} photo{} to “{}”", if n == 1 { "" } else { "s" }, album, n = n) ``` - A translation is an ordinary Rust format string over the same arguments. Refer to named values by name (`{n}`) and to positional ones by index when the word order changes (`{0}`, `{1}`): `"已将 {n} 张照片添加到“{1}”{0:.0}"`. Keep the source's spec (`{:.1}`, `{d:+}`, `{:.0}%`). - `format!` rejects an unused argument, so a value a language does not need — the English plural suffix (`"s"` / `""`) — is consumed as `{:.0}` (a string at precision 0 prints nothing). - Every formats catalog carries the same messages (`build.rs` fails the build otherwise), and a `tr_format!` call whose message is in no catalog does not compile: add it to every `*-formats.json` file. ## Testing and looking at it ```sh cargo test -p lightcraft-ui-egui i18n::tests # catalogs, keys, placeholders, commands CRAFT_FONTS_DIR=../craft-fonts cargo test -p lightcraft-ui-egui i18n::tests # + glyph coverage ``` The glyph tests are skipped without `CRAFT_FONTS_DIR` (there are no CJK faces to check then). To look at a language, render it headless: ```sh LIGHTCRAFT_LANGUAGE=zh-hans lightcraft-cli snapshot --demo --script tour.jsonl -o out.png --size 1600x1000 ``` or, with the app running (`--control 7980`), run the language command (`engine.execute {"command": "app.language.simplifiedChinese"}`) and take a screenshot. ## Language codes and settings The settings file stores the BCP-47 code, never the Rust variant name, so a language can be renamed in code without invalidating anyone's saved preference. `LIGHTCRAFT_LANGUAGE` accepts what a system locale looks like (`zh_Hans`, `zh-CN`, `en_US`, `ja_JP.UTF-8`) and falls back to the base language when a region has no dedicated entry. ## Release notes Help ▸ What's New shows `docs/whats-new.md`, and each of its lines (a heading, or one wrapped line of a bullet, without the `- ` or `### `) is looked up like any message, so a catalog can translate the notes line by line (German does). A line that is re-wrapped or edited no longer matches its translation and shows in English until the catalog is updated; untranslated lines are reported by `display_label_gaps_are_reported`, never failed.