Ash Framework•4mo ago

Translating Ash Error messages

What are my options for translating error messages returned by actions? The first thing that comes to mind is translating the errors in the controller like this:

def create(conn, params) do
  case Organizations.create_organization(params, scope: conn.assigns.scope) do
    {:ok, _org} ->
      conn
      |> put_flash(:success, Feedback.org_created_successfully())
      |> redirect(to: ~p"/")

    {:error, errors} ->
      translated_errors = translate_errors(errors)
      
      conn
      |> assign_errors(translated_errors)
      |> redirect(to: ~p"/crear-empresa")
  end
end

def create(conn, params) do
  case Organizations.create_organization(params, scope: conn.assigns.scope) do
    {:ok, _org} ->
      conn
      |> put_flash(:success, Feedback.org_created_successfully())
      |> redirect(to: ~p"/")

    {:error, errors} ->
      translated_errors = translate_errors(errors)
      
      conn
      |> assign_errors(translated_errors)
      |> redirect(to: ~p"/crear-empresa")
  end
end

However, this feels repetitive and pollutes the controller. Is there a better way to handle this in Ash?

13 Replies

ZachDaniel•4mo ago

Currently that is the best way TBH

kernel•4mo ago

I personally use dggettext in my web layer not sure if it works for all errors, but it works for field errors pretty well they are already being passed through gettext anyway for the {min} {max} {count} stuff anyway

jart•4mo ago

we have definitely talked about adding gettext to Ash's error system but since neither of us speaks another language or has really built anything with translations in it we want to defer to experts

kernel•4mo ago

I have a few apps in japanese, I've seen murmurings about how gettext isn't really that good anyway (from the cldr people), so maybe one day I'll change I don't know if it exists yet, but it would be useful to have a mix task that just extracts the strings from ash and dumps it into a pot file I've had to add the errors I see manually, which isn't the most comprehensive

Joan GavelánOP•4mo ago

Would you be so kind to share a code snippet showing how you are doing that? I planned to use gettext as well but I refuse to translate errors in my controller, at least for now @Zach Daniel How about modifying the error messages directly? Is that possible? I don't need to support multiple languages, just Spanish

kernel•4mo ago

gettext is best option as the errors are hardcoded inside the respective ash error modules

kernel•4mo ago

in errors.pot and then the standard phoenix liveview core_components translate_error thing should work

  @doc """
  Translates an error message using gettext.
  """
  def translate_error({msg, opts}) do
    # When using gettext, we typically pass the strings we want
    # to translate as a static argument:
    #
    #     # Translate the number of files with plural rules
    #     dngettext("errors", "1 file", "%{count} files", count)
    #
    # However the error messages in our forms and APIs are generated
    # dynamically, so we need to translate them by calling Gettext
    # with our gettext backend as first argument. Translations are
    # available in the errors.po file (as we use the "errors" domain).
    if count = opts[:count] do
      Gettext.dngettext(YOURAPP.Gettext, "errors", msg, msg, count, opts)
    else
      Gettext.dgettext(YOURAPP.Gettext, "errors", msg, opts)
    end
  end

  @doc """
  Translates the errors for a field from a keyword list of errors.
  """
  def translate_errors(errors, field) when is_list(errors) do
    for {^field, {msg, opts}} <- errors, do: translate_error({msg, opts})
  end

  @doc """
  Translates an error message using gettext.
  """
  def translate_error({msg, opts}) do
    # When using gettext, we typically pass the strings we want
    # to translate as a static argument:
    #
    #     # Translate the number of files with plural rules
    #     dngettext("errors", "1 file", "%{count} files", count)
    #
    # However the error messages in our forms and APIs are generated
    # dynamically, so we need to translate them by calling Gettext
    # with our gettext backend as first argument. Translations are
    # available in the errors.po file (as we use the "errors" domain).
    if count = opts[:count] do
      Gettext.dngettext(YOURAPP.Gettext, "errors", msg, msg, count, opts)
    else
      Gettext.dgettext(YOURAPP.Gettext, "errors", msg, opts)
    end
  end

  @doc """
  Translates the errors for a field from a keyword list of errors.
  """
  def translate_errors(errors, field) when is_list(errors) do
    for {^field, {msg, opts}} <- errors, do: translate_error({msg, opts})
  end

Basically

kernel•4mo ago

then you generate po files for whatever language you want

Joan GavelánOP•4mo ago

Oh yeah, problem is I'm not using LiveView components I'm using React with Inertia

kernel•4mo ago

would be similar, get an i18n thing for react and generate translations there instead have to create a list once manually of the ash stuff and swap it out in react if you want to go even more budget then you don't even need gettext i18n, just have a function in react land that swaps keys assuming it will be similar to this https://medium.com/@ayatir04/laravel-inertia-js-localization-without-packages-6e7f49fb07c

Joan GavelánOP•4mo ago

Yeah that would be another option. Just wanted to see if there was a more "ergonomic way" to do this directly from Ash. So everything is sent to the frontend ready for rendering

kernel•4mo ago

well it's the view layer, so just use gettext on the server to send translations. I've never used inertia so no idea how it all plumbs together maybe register a before_send thing on Plug.Conn and do stuff there so you only define it once

Joan GavelánOP•4mo ago

Will look into all that Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I appreciate it.

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Translating Ash Error messages

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