React Native is a popular framework for building cross-platform mobile applications using JavaScript and React. However, React Native does not provide a built-in solution for localization, which is the process of adapting an app to different languages and regions. This is where react-native-localize comes in.
What is react-native-localize?
React-native-localize is a library that provides a declarative and native-driven API for getting the current interface language, locale, and other localization settings in React Native apps. It allows you to access various types of information, such as language code, country code, currency code, calendar format, temperature unit, and more, that can be used to customize your app according to the user preferences. It also supports various types of events, such as language change or timezone change, that can be used to update your app dynamically.
Why use react-native-localize?
React-native-localize has several advantages over other localization libraries, such as:
It is easy to use and follows the React philosophy of declarative and component-based UI.It is compatible with both Expo and bare React Native projects, and works well with other libraries such as react-navigation, react-native-gesture-handler, and react-native-reanimated.It is highly performant and reliable, as it leverages the native localization system of each platform and avoids the JS bridge that can cause delays and glitches.It is well-maintained and actively developed by the React Native community, with frequent updates and bug fixes.How to install and use react-native-localize?
To use react-native-localize in your React Native project, you need to install the core package and the dependencies:
npm install --save react-native-localize
The core package provides some basic utilities and hooks that are used by the localization components. To use a specific localization component, such as getLocales or getCurrencies, you also need to import the corresponding module:
import getLocales from 'react-native-localize';import getCurrencies from 'react-native-localize';
You can find the full list of available localization components on the official website.
Additionally, you need to link the native dependencies for each platform (iOS/Android/Windows) you plan to use. You can do this manually by following the instructions on GitHub, or automatically by using react-native link or npx pod-install commands.
If you are using Expo, you don’t need to link anything, as Expo already includes react-native-localize in its SDK.
After installing and linking the packages, you can start using react-native-localize in your app. The basic idea is to create a localization component that returns some information or triggers some event. For example, to get the user preferred locales, you can write something like this:
import React from 'react';import View from 'react-native';import getLocales from 'react-native-localize';function App() return ( <View> <Text> getLocales() </Text> </View> );export default App;
The getLocales component returns an array of objects that contain information about the user preferred locales, such as language code, country code, language tag, and direction.
To use multiple localization components from different modules, you can use the LocalizationProvider component from the core package. For example:
import React from 'react';import View from 'react-native';import LocalizationProvider from 'react-native-localize';import getLocales from 'react-native-localize';import getCurrencies from 'react-native-localize';function App() return ( <LocalizationProvider> <View> <Text> getLocales() </Text> <Text> getCurrencies() </Text> </View> </LocalizationProvider> );export default App;
The LocalizationProvider component wraps your app with a context that provides access to all the localization components.
Conclusion
React-native-localize is a powerful and flexible library that enables you to get the current interface language, locale, and other localization settings in your React Native apps. It supports various types of information and events that can be used to customize your app according to the user preferences. It also provides hooks and options to improve the performance and usability of your app on different devices and platforms. To learn more about react-native-localize, you can check out the official documentation and the examples on npm.
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