express-translate

Adds translation support to Express by exposing a t() function to both the req object and your views (using res.locals). It will translate keys specified in an object mapping of key => translation string for the languages that you specify. String interpolation is supported and all malicious content is html-escaped by default.

Installation

npm install express-translate

Usage

First, you'll want to instantiate express-translate:

var express = require('express');
var ExpressTranslate = require('express-translate');
var app = express();

var expressTranslate = new ExpressTranslate();

You'll then want to add a language or two to the translator. Translations are stored in an object mapping of key => translation string:

expressTranslate.addLanguage('en', { hello: 'Hello ${name}' });

Finally, add the middleware to express:

app.use(expressTranslate.middleware());

By default, the middleware will read the current locale from req.locale; you can alter this behavior by setting the localeKey option described below. A locale must be specified on the req object in order for express-translate to know which language it should translate the keys in. The locale must be the same as those languages added to express-translate with addLanguage().

Within your code, you can translate a key using the translate function at req.t() or within your template. String interpolation with key => value pairs are supported:

h1= t('hello', { name: 'Joe' });

All html within the translations and interpolated values will be escaped. If you wouldn't like to escape the html within an interpolated value, use the whitelistedKeys option, passing an array of label names to disregard during escaping:

h1= t('hello', { name: '<strong>Joe</strong>' }, { whitelistedKeys: ['name'] });

Options

Constructor Options

new ExpressTranslate(options);

Pass an object to express-translate on instantiation with any of the following options:

• localeKey String Specifies the key on the request object the locale can be found. Defaults to locale.
• interpolationPrefix String Specifies the prefix of the interpolation key used to replace content within the string. Defaults to ${.
• interpolationSuffix String Specifies the suffix of the interpolation key used to replace content within the string. Defaults to }.
• escapeHtml bool Specifies whether to escape translations to prevent possible exploitation. Useful to disable if you already handle this in your workflow. Defaults to true.

expressTranslate.addLanguage(code, translations)

Adds an object of key => translation string to the translator for the specified language.

• code String Specifies the locale code the translations are for (e.g. en).
• translations Object An object mapping of key to translation string for the specified locale (e.g. { hello: 'Hello ${name}' }).

expressTranslate.addLanguages(codeTranslations)

Helper for adding multiple languages in one go.

• codeTranslations Object An object mapping of locale to translations object (e.g. { en: { hello: '${name}'} })

req.t(key, interpolations, options)

Translates the key with the language specified at req.locale.

• key String The key that you would like to translate (from the translations object added with addLanguage())
• interpolations Object An object mapping a key in the translation string that should be replaced with the associated value. Values are html-escaped by default; you can whitelist a key by using the whitelistedKeys option.
• options Object Options defined below:
  • whitelistedKeys Array An array of keys used for interpolation that should not be html-escaped by default

Solved XSS Vulnerabilities

express-translate, by default, html-escapes translation strings, interpolation keys, and interpolation values to prevent the following possible XSS vulnerabilities:

Malicious translations

If your translations are performed by malicious translators, they could contain XSS attacks:

// Define an translation with dynamic HTML content
!= t('welcome', {welcome_link: '<a href="/">' + user.name + '</a>'})

// Inside a translation
Hello <script>alert(1)</script>! Access your dashboard via ${welcome_link}

We prevent this by escaping the entire string:

Hello <script>alert(1)</script>! Access your dashboard via ${welcome_link}

Malicious keys

If the malicious translators are smart, then they can provide a bad key which will not get replaced.

Hello ${<script>alert(1)</script>}! Access your dashboard via ${welcome_link}

We prevent this by escaping the entire string:

Hello ${<script>alert(1)</script>}! Access your dashboard via ${welcome_link}

Malicious values

If the end user is being malicious, then they can provide a malicious value:

// Normal translation execution
!= t('welcome', {welcome_link: '<a href="/">' + user.name + '</a>'})
Hello! Access your dashboard via ${welcome_link}

// With XSS attack
var user = {name: '<script>alert(1)</script>'};
// Hello! Access your dashboard via <a href="/"><script>alert(1)</script></a>

We prevent against this by escaping every value:

Hello! Access your dashboard via <a href="/"><script>alert(1)</script></a>

Unfortunately, this has undesired side effects with HTML, so we provide a way to trust specific interpolated values using the whitelistedKeys option:

// Translate welcome link
- var welcome_link_text = t('welcome_link_text', {name: user.name})

// Translate welcome message
!= t('welcome', {welcome_link: '<a href="/">' + welcome_link_text + '</a>'}, {whitelistedKeys: ['welcome_link']})

yielding:

Hello! Access your dashboard via <a href="/">&lt;script&gt;alert(1)&lt;/script&gt;</a>