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Locale Resolution and Field Label Translation

and how field labels are automatically translated in the Meta API.

Locale Resolution Order​

The system resolves the user's locale in the following order:

  1. Accept-Language header - Browser language preference
  2. User preference - user.locale field in LocalUser/UserPreferences
  3. Tenant default - tenant.attributes.default_locale
  4. System default - DEFAULT_LOCALE setting (defaults to "en")

Usage Examples​

1. Frontend: Setting Locale via Accept-Language Header​

// Frontend automatically sends Accept-Language header
fetch("http://localhost:8000/api/meta/Invoice", {
  headers: {
    "Accept-Language": "hi-IN,hi;q=0.9,en;q=0.8",
  },
});

// The middleware parses this and resolves locale to 'hi'

2. Backend: User Preference​

# Set user's locale preference
user = LocalUser(
    email="john@example.com",
    password_hash="...",
    locale="hi"  # Hindi preference
)

# When this user makes requests, locale="hi" takes precedence
# over Accept-Language header

3. Backend: Tenant Default Locale​

# Configure tenant with default locale
tenant = TenantContext(
    tenant_id="acme-corp",
    attributes={
        "default_locale": "ta",  # Tamil
        "plan": "enterprise"
    }
)

# All users in this tenant default to Tamil
# unless they have a personal preference

4. Backend: Accessing Resolved Locale​

from litestar import get, Request
from framework_m.adapters.web.middleware.locale import provide_locale

@get("/api/greeting")
async def get_greeting(locale: str = provide_locale) -> str:
    \"\"\"Greet user in their preferred language.\"\"\"
    greetings = {
        "en": "Hello!",
        "hi": "नमस्ते!",
        "ta": "வணக்கம்!",
    }
    return greetings.get(locale, greetings["en"])

Field Label Translation​

Field labels (Field.description and Field.title) are automatically translated in the Meta API response based on the resolved locale.

Example: Creating Translations​

# 1. Create Translation entries
from framework_m.core.doctypes.translation import Translation

# English (original)
Translation(
    source_text="Customer Name",
    translated_text="Customer Name",
    locale="en",
    context="field_label"
)

# Hindi translation
Translation(
    source_text="Customer Name",
    translated_text="ग्राहक का नाम",
    locale="hi",
    context="field_label"
)

# Tamil translation
Translation(
    source_text="Customer Name",
    translated_text="வாடிக்கையாளர் பெயர்",
    locale="ta",
    context="field_label"
)

Example: DocType with Translatable Fields​

from pydantic import Field
from framework_m.core.domain.base_doctype import BaseDocType

class Invoice(BaseDocType):
    \"\"\"Invoice DocType with translatable field labels.\"\"\"

    customer: str = Field(
        description="Customer Name",  # Will be translated
        min_length=1,
        max_length=200
    )

    total: float = Field(
        description="Total Amount",  # Will be translated
        ge=0
    )

Example: Meta API Response (Hindi locale)​

# Request with Hindi locale
curl -H "Accept-Language: hi" http://localhost:8000/api/meta/Invoice

# Response (field labels translated)
{
  "doctype": "Invoice",
  "locale": "hi",
  "schema": {
    "properties": {
      "customer": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "ग्राहक का नाम",  # Translated!
        "minLength": 1,
        "maxLength": 200
      },
      "total": {
        "type": "number",
        "description": "कुल राशि",  # Translated!
        "minimum": 0
      }
    }
  }
}

Middleware Configuration​

Add the locale resolution middleware to your Litestar app:

from litestar import Litestar
from framework_m.adapters.web.middleware.locale import create_locale_middleware

app = Litestar(
    route_handlers=[...],
    middleware=[
        create_locale_middleware(),
        # ... other middleware
    ]
)

Translation Context​

The context field in Translation DocType allows disambiguation:

# Button label
Translation(
    source_text="Save",
    translated_text="सहेजें",
    locale="hi",
    context="button"  # Specific to buttons
)

# Field label
Translation(
    source_text="Save",
    translated_text="बचत",
    locale="hi",
    context="field_label"  # Different meaning for field labels
)

Benefits​

  1. Automatic: No manual translation code needed in endpoints
  2. Flexible: Multiple fallback levels ensure graceful degradation
  3. User-friendly: Respects browser language, user preference, and tenant defaults
  4. Consistent: Same locale resolution logic across all endpoints
  5. Cacheable: DefaultI18nAdapter caches translations in memory

See Also​

  • framework_m.adapters.web.middleware.locale - Middleware implementation
  • framework_m.adapters.i18n.DefaultI18nAdapter - Translation adapter
  • framework_m.core.doctypes.translation - Translation DocType
  • framework_m.core.doctypes.user - User.locale field
  • framework_m.core.interfaces.tenant - TenantContext.attributes.default_locale