# User interface locale VS content locale **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails I18n\ **Created:** [August 5, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325 "2011-08-05T00:34:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@luislavena](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/luislavena)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/1 "2011-08-05T00:34:05Z")
Hi, I’m working on a little content management system where the user can manage content that is translated in multiple languages. The UI of the CMS itself is also available in multiple languages so I need to be able to display the UI in english while the user is managing french content. I am not sure of the smart way to handle this. Using something like Globalize3 you end up having to keep switching the value of I18n.locale back and forth when calling I18n.translate for the UI or when displaying data from the model. Anyone has tips or ideas? ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/2 "2011-08-05T00:42:07Z")
Perhaps Object#with\_options plus the :locale param could be helpful. Something like I18n.locale = :en # English t(:“welcome”) with\_options(:locale =\> :fr) do |trans| # French trans.t(:“hello”) end # English t(:“goodbye”) Or define a method like def self.in\_locale(locale) old\_locale = I18n.locale I18n.locale = locale yield ensure I18n.locale = old\_locale end and you could do stuff like I18n.locale = :en # English t(:“welcome”) I18n.in\_locale(:fr) do # French t(:“hello”) end # English t(:“goodbye”) ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/3 "2011-08-05T16:09:10Z")
Yes I thought of this and Globalize3 already has a utility for this called called with\_locale to which you can pass a locale and a block. But even with this it seems like it ends up being an hassle. So basically, every time I want to display data from a model, I’ll need to wrap the call into that function to make sure I display using the content locale and not the ui locale. If I display forms, I’ll also need to wrap each field into that function too… making sure I don’t wrap any calls to I18n.translate. ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/4 "2011-08-05T16:40:03Z")
Well, why not hack up I18n a bit? Let I18n.locale be the content locale, but hack in a new I18n.ui\_locale method, and a I18n.ui\_translate method that wraps I18n.translate inside a I18n.with\_locale(I18n.ui\_locale) {…} Then you can mix ui and content freely by simply calling different translation methods for them. Or something… never tried it. Personally I’d just use I18n.with\_locale here and there, but we don’t mix locales as much. - Martin PS. I had fun looking up how I18n.locale is stored (considering I18n is a module). ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/5 "2011-08-05T20:08:56Z")
Yeah I think I’ll look into the rails-i18n code and Globalize3 code over the weekend. It seems like Globalize3 also stores a setting in the Thread called :globalize\_locale. I wonder if that means I could have a different setting for the UI and for the Content. I was mostly opening up a discussion to see if others had the same kinda problems to solve. Thanks for the feedback. ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/6 "2011-08-05T00:43:21Z")
On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 00:40, Henrik N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > def self.in\_locale(locale) > … > end Make that module I18n def self.in\_locale(locale) … end end ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/7 "2011-08-07T01:19:03Z")
Actually, for Globalize2 it might also be better to store in Thread.current. Correct me if I’m wrong but changing it in ActiveRecord::Base would affect all users and not just this single request? ---
**Author:** ![hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/977dab/32.png) [@hydrozen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hydrozen)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/user-interface-locale-vs-content-locale/210325/8 "2011-08-06T16:24:33Z")
After a big of digging, it turns out that both Globalize2 and Globalize3 use I18n.locale as a default locale but provide a way to override that setting. When using Globalize2 you can do: ActiveRecord::Base.locale = :fr When using Globalize3 you can do: Thread.current[:globalize\_locale] = :fr and then you don’t have to keep toggling I18n.locale back and forth 😉