rails i18n - translating text with links inside

Question

I\'d like to i18n a text that looks like this:

Already signed up? Log in!

Note that there is a link on the text. On this example

Answer 1

I wanted a bit more flexibility than just adding links to flash messages from YAML files (for example the logged in username etc.) so instead I wanted to use ERB notation in the string.

As I am using bootstrap_flash so I modified the helper code as follows to decode the ERB strings before displaying:

require 'erb'

module BootstrapFlashHelper
  ALERT_TYPES = [:error, :info, :success, :warning] unless const_defined?(:ALERT_TYPES)

  def bootstrap_flash
    flash_messages = []
    flash.each do |type, message|
      # Skip empty messages, e.g. for devise messages set to nothing in a locale file.
      next if message.blank?

      type = type.to_sym
      type = :success if type == :notice
      type = :error   if type == :alert
      next unless ALERT_TYPES.include?(type)

      Array(message).each do |msg|
        begin
          msg = ERB.new(msg).result(binding) if msg
        rescue Exception=>e
          puts e.message
          puts e.backtrace
        end
        text = content_tag(:div,
                           content_tag(:button, raw("×"), :class => "close", "data-dismiss" => "alert") +
                           msg.html_safe, :class => "alert fade in alert-#{type}")
        flash_messages << text if msg
      end
    end
    flash_messages.join("\n").html_safe
  end
end

It is then possible to use strings like the following (using devise):

signed_in: "Welcome back <%= current_user.first_name %>! <%= link_to \"Click here\", account_path %> for your account."

This may not work for all situations and there may be an argument that code and string definitions should not be mixed (especially from a DRY perspective), but this seems to work well for me. The code should be adaptable for many other situations, the important bits being the following:

require 'erb'

....

        begin
          msg = ERB.new(msg).result(binding) if msg
        rescue Exception=>e
          puts e.message
          puts e.backtrace
        end

Answer 2

Separating text and link in locale.yml file works for a while but with longer text those are hard to translate and maintain as the link is in separate translation-item (as in Simones answer). If you start having many strings/translations with links you can dry it a bit more.

I made one helper in my application_helper.rb:

# Converts
# "string with __link__ in the middle." to
# "string with #{link_to('link', link_url, link_options)} in the middle."
def string_with_link(str, link_url, link_options = {})
  match = str.match(/__([^_]{2,30})__/)
  if !match.blank?
    raw($` + link_to($1, link_url, link_options) + $')
  else
    raise "string_with_link: No place for __link__ given in #{str}" if Rails.env.test?
    nil
  end
end

In my en.yml:

log_in_message: "Already signed up? __Log in!__"

And in my views:

<p><%= string_with_link(t('.log_in_message'), login_path) %></p>

This way it's easier to translate messages as also the link text is clearly defined in the locale.yml-files.

Answer 3

In en.yml

registration:
    terms:
      text: "I do agree with the terms and conditions: %{gtc} / %{stc}"
      gtc: "GTC"
      stc: "STC"

In de.yml

registration:
    terms:
      text: "Ich stimme den Geschäfts- und Nutzungsbedingungen zu: %{gtc} / %{stc}"
      gtc: "AGB"
      stc: "ANB"

in new.html.erb [assumed]

<%= t(
   'registration.terms.text',
    gtc:  link_to(t('registration.terms.gtc'),  terms_and_conditions_home_index_url + "?tab=gtc"),
    stc: link_to(t('registration.terms.stc'), terms_and_conditions_home_index_url + "?tab=stc")
 ).html_safe %>