ComplexScripts¶ ↑

complex_scripts extends the Ruby’s String class to provide additional methods for the proper display of complex scripts. Additionally, it also provides helper methods to be used within views.

Installation

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To install add to the Gemfile of the project:

gem ‘complex_scripts’, ‘2.0.1’, :git => ‘github.com/thl/complex_scripts.git’, :tag => ‘v2.0.1’

and add to the main app’s assets/stylesheets/application.css :

*= require complex_scripts/application

The String methods added are:

1. span (or “s” for short): takes a string and spans characters in predefined unicode ranges with xml:lang and class attribute with

language code (ISO 369-3) for easy rendering. Also converts characters outside ascii range into NCR.

1. encode (or “e” for short): converts chars outside ascii range to NCR, but does not span. To be used in forms (buttons, drop-down

lists, etc.).

Encoding in NCR ensures that the browser displays properly regardless of its encoding setting.

The helper methods provided are:

1. fixed_language_options: receives a language code as argument and returns a hash with keys xml:lang and class set to that code.

If no code is given, it defaults to “bo” (tibetan). This can be used to easily pass it to form helpers to be styled accordingly.

1. display_if_not_blank: not really related to complex scripts per se. Displays a title and attribute if attribute is not blank.

The spanning relies on a LANGUAGES array defined under complex_scripts/lib/complex_scripts.rb. The code checks if a language table exists. If it doesn’t, the array is pre-populated with fixed values. If it does, the values are taken from the database.

If you want to manage the languages in the database, simply run:

script/generate complex_script_languages

This will generate a language model, migration, controller, and views under the appropriate folders. Feel free to change the code to accommodate for the application’s navigation, layout, etc.

If you rather manage the languages from code, simply change the pre-defined values for the LANGUAGES array in complex_scripts/lib/complex_scripts.rb

Example

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The following examples illustrate the usage of the methods included in this plugin. For the sake of clarity, the examples use fixed strings. In real practice, although including fixed string with unicode values in the views does work, more likely the methods would be called upon strings drawn from a database.

“Tibet (བོད་)”.s # => “Tibet (<span lang=”bo“ xml:lang=”bo“ class=”bo“>&#3926;&#3964;&#3921;&#3851;</span>)”

“Tibet (བོད་)”.e # => “Tibet (&#3926;&#3964;&#3921;&#3851;)”

“e” is specially useful for generating html for elements of a form that don’t allow spanning (buttons, drop-down lists, etc.). In those cases, the language is not specified through the span, but through sending fixed_language_options to the html attribute in helper. For instance:

<%= submit_tag ‘འཚོལ་ཞིབ།’.e, fixed_language_options %>

Would generate the following HTML:

<input class=“bo” lang=“bo” name=“commit” type=“submit” value=“&#3936;&#3930;&#3964;&#3939;&#3851;&#3934;&#3954;&#3926;&#3853;” xml:lang=“bo” />

In the stylesheet we could specify how to render class “bo” like this:

.bo {

font-size: 140%;
font-family: "XenoType Tibetan New", "Jomolhari", "Tibetan Machine Uni"!important;
line-height: 140%;
text-align: left;
font-weight: normal;

}

See complex_scripts/lib/generators/complex_scripts_languages/templates/show.html.erb for examples on how to use display_if_not_blank.

Copyright © 2008 Andres Montano Pellegrini on behalf of THL, released under the MIT license.