feat(i18n): add language preference management functionality #786

Ang-m4 · 2025-04-01T19:37:36Z

Language Management Module

Description

This PR intents to add a new LanguageManager module to standardize language switching functionality. The module provides a new API for handling language changes from any component in the application.

Key Features

Unified Language Management: Centralizes all language-related operations into a single module
Complete Language Switching Flow: Handles the entire language change process through a single function call
User Preference Persistence: Updates both client-side cookies and server-side user preferences
Session Management: Integrates with LMS backend to ensure consistent language experience
RTL Support: Automatically handles right-to-left language adjustments
Event System Integration: Publishes events when locale changes to allow components to react

Implementation Details

New Functions

changeUserSessionLanguage(languageCode): Main public function that orchestrates the language change process:
- Sets the language cookie
- Updates authenticated user preferences in the backend (if applicable)
- Updates the session language
- Publishes a locale change event
- Handles RTL adjustments
updateUserPreferences(username, preferenceData): Updates server-side user language preferences via the API
setSessionLanguage(languageCode): Sets the language for the current session using the LMS setlang endpoint

API Usage

Components can now implement language switching with a single function call:

import { changeUserSessionLanguage } from '@edx/frontend-platform/i18n';

// When a user selects a new language
changeUserSessionLanguage('ar'); // Switch to Arabic

Related Work

This functionality is a core dependency for the Language Selector Implementation.

openedx-webhooks · 2025-04-01T19:37:40Z

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arbrandes

I think it is a good idea to have this logic be centralized in frontend-platform, instead of implemented as part of language selection dropdowns. I imagine openedx/frontend-component-footer#493 will have to be refactored accordingly, correct?

I have a minor suggested change, but I'm also not approving yet as I'd like to see PRs that use this.

src/i18n/LanguageManager.js

dcoa · 2025-06-13T01:50:39Z

I was thinking about the list of supported languages to display

I'm thinking as default use an array provided for frontend-platform using the messages object here that is configured during the MFE initialize. So the manager could return a function or variable with the list of locales Object.keys(messages)

@arbrandes what do you thing?

In that way we can get rid of SITE_SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES here, and in any case someone want to pass a more restricted or controlled list, they can do it by the plugin configuration.

codecov · 2025-06-18T19:26:44Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 96.42857% with 1 line in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 87.31%. Comparing base (acf0d46) to head (729b314).
⚠️ Report is 4 commits behind head on master.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/i18n/lib.js	85.71%	1 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master     #786      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   87.13%   87.31%   +0.18%     
==========================================
  Files          48       50       +2     
  Lines        1407     1435      +28     
  Branches      297      305       +8     
==========================================
+ Hits         1226     1253      +27     
- Misses        168      169       +1     
  Partials       13       13

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dcoa · 2025-06-19T12:41:14Z

src/i18n/languageManager.js

+  const formData = new FormData();
+  formData.append('language', languageCode);
+
+  const url = `${getConfig().LMS_BASE_URL}/i18n/setlang/`;


I was digging a little bit in edx-platform to see how the mako templates manage the logic and I found this endpoint, it is used for update no-authenticated users as you can see in the mako template.

The endpoint request a CSRF token as you can see here. I just want to make sure the following line of code is correct as a suggested change from the frontend-platform perspective (getAuthenticatedHttpClient is the right service to use? -@arbrandes could you help me with this doubt?-).

getAuthenticatedHttpClient().patch(`${getConfig().LMS_BASE_URL}/lang_pref/update_language`, {"pref-lang": languageCode}, { isPublic: true })

In this way we can avoid setting the language cookie (as currently happen with the lines 81-83 of the this PR), and it will be 100% managed for the backend in both authenticated and unauthenticated users.

I create a sandbox for testing in learning, and the current endpoint can manage the authenticated and unauthenticated case (I have the problem in my dev environment only)

https://app.pr-1741-1395ab.sandboxes.opencraft.hosting/learning/course/course-v1:Demo+CT01+CT01/home

c.c @arbrandes

@dcoa, you say the endpoint can manage both authenticated and unauthenticated cases, but then mention a problem. Do you still think we can use the update_language endpoint here instead of Django's setlang?

I update my environment and tested it again and the /i18n/setlang/ endpoint works with the authenticated and unauthenticated users in both production like and dev environments.

So we can set the language using it and make the backend handle the cookie update. For the unauthenticated user will create a session cookie meanwhile for a authenticated user creates a cookie with expiration date.

Then the change is not needed.

Ang-m4 · 2025-06-25T16:05:37Z

Hi @arbrandes,

I made some changes to the code as you requested. Please let me know what you think:

Created a new languageApi module for easier testing.
Added an optional flag for reloading the page if needed.
Added a unit test.

and i would like to know your thoughts on @dcoa’s comments!

The endpoint request a CSRF token as you can see here. I just want to make sure the following line of code is correct as a suggested change from the frontend-platform perspective (getAuthenticatedHttpClient is the right service to use? -@arbrandes could you help me with this doubt?-).

I'm thinking as default use an array provided for frontend-platform using the messages object here that is configured during the MFE initialize. So the manager could return a function or variable with the list of locales Object.keys(messages)

Thank you so much for your time on this!

dcoa · 2025-08-25T21:32:07Z

@arbrandes friendly tag for reviewing here. Thank you!

felipemontoya · 2025-09-03T20:52:35Z

@arbrandes friendly ping again. To not be a constant bother since I know you are deepdiving in the frontendbase stuff, I'd like to ask if you need to pass this to someone else to be a reviewer here.

arbrandes

A couple of changes requested, and one pending change based on @dcoa's findings.

As for the list of supported languages, I completely agree that the list should come from the messages array, which can itself be changed by operators by other mechanisms. And it's also a good idea to have a getter function provided by i18n/lib.

Otherwise, this is looking good. Apologies for the delay in getting to the review!

arbrandes · 2025-09-19T15:14:52Z

src/i18n/languageManager.js

+  cookies.set(cookieName, languageCode);
+
+  try {
+    const user = getAuthenticatedUser();


I believe the call to getAuthenticatedUser() would be more at home in languageApi.js. username is only used there, anyway.

arbrandes · 2025-09-19T15:17:38Z

src/i18n/languageApi.js

+ * @returns {Promise} - A promise that resolves when the API call completes successfully,
+ *                      or rejects if there's an error with the request.
+ */
+export async function updateUserPreferences(username, preferenceData) {


As suggested in another review comment, I would change this function like so:

Suggested change

export async function updateUserPreferences(username, preferenceData) {

export async function updateAuthenticatedUserPreferences(preferenceData) {

And then get the authenticated username inside the function. Unless, of course, you can imagine a situation where we'd need this function to change the preference of some user other than the currently logged in one - but I find that to be unlikely.

arbrandes · 2025-09-19T15:28:24Z

src/i18n/languageApi.js

+  formData.append('language', languageCode);
+
+  return getAuthenticatedHttpClient().post(
+    `${getConfig().LMS_BASE_URL}/i18n/setlang/`,


I'm adding a "pending" note here regarding @dcoa's findings on this other conversation. If the update_language endpoint works, we should probably use it.

arbrandes · 2025-09-19T15:31:09Z

src/i18n/languageManager.js

+  const cookies = getCookies();
+  const cookieName = getConfig().LANGUAGE_PREFERENCE_COOKIE_NAME;
+  cookies.set(cookieName, languageCode);


As per this other conversation, if we can leverage the update_language endpoint to set the cookie, we should. This is an if, though.

arbrandes · 2025-09-19T15:33:37Z

src/i18n/languageManager.js

+  const formData = new FormData();
+  formData.append('language', languageCode);
+
+  const url = `${getConfig().LMS_BASE_URL}/i18n/setlang/`;


@dcoa, you say the endpoint can manage both authenticated and unauthenticated cases, but then mention a problem. Do you still think we can use the update_language endpoint here instead of Django's setlang?

dcoa · 2025-10-08T12:53:05Z

This LGTM!! thank you, @Ang-m4 .

@arbrandes the PR was updated accordingly to the feedback, could you please verify?

openedx-webhooks added the open-source-contribution PR author is not from Axim or 2U label Apr 1, 2025

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github-project-automation bot moved this to Needs Triage in Contributions Apr 1, 2025

mphilbrick211 moved this from Needs Triage to Waiting on Author in Contributions Apr 1, 2025

Ang-m4 force-pushed the afg/change-user-language-preference branch from c87194b to a17955e Compare April 2, 2025 14:08

Ang-m4 mentioned this pull request Apr 2, 2025

feat: add language selector component to header openedx/frontend-component-header#586

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Ang-m4 marked this pull request as ready for review April 3, 2025 13:04

Ang-m4 mentioned this pull request Apr 3, 2025

[WIP] refactor: change lang selector logic openedx/frontend-component-footer#493

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dcoa requested a review from arbrandes May 29, 2025 19:51

arbrandes requested changes Jun 5, 2025

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Ang-m4 force-pushed the afg/change-user-language-preference branch from 1e1f82c to d83e228 Compare June 18, 2025 19:25

dcoa reviewed Jun 19, 2025

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dcoa mentioned this pull request Jun 22, 2025

[NO MERGE] testing languange selector implementation openedx/frontend-app-learning#1741

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Ang-m4 requested a review from arbrandes June 25, 2025 15:56

mphilbrick211 moved this from Waiting on Author to Ready for Review in Contributions Sep 16, 2025

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Ang-m4 added 7 commits October 5, 2025 18:14

feat(i18n): add language preference management functionality

42fca2f

fix: force page reload to ensure complete translation application

f0814f7

feat: conditional page reloading and module rename

a5c70f5

refactor(i18n): move language preference functions to languageApi module

2a3be05

test(i18n): add unit tests for languageApi and languageManager functions

b63d4ee

feat(i18n): add getSupportedLocales function

837ef56

feat(i18n): update user preferences function

d6d1cd7

Ang-m4 force-pushed the afg/change-user-language-preference branch from c2d269c to 133b230 Compare October 6, 2025 01:57

feat(i18n): update getSupportedLocaleList function

b0b7b34

Ang-m4 force-pushed the afg/change-user-language-preference branch from 133b230 to b0b7b34 Compare October 6, 2025 02:01

Ang-m4 requested a review from dcoa October 6, 2025 14:02

andrey-canon mentioned this pull request Oct 7, 2025

feat(i18n): add language preference management functionality nelc/frontend-platform#14

Merged

fix: remove client-side cookie setting to prevent duplication

729b314

dcoa requested a review from arbrandes October 8, 2025 12:53

dcoa approved these changes Oct 8, 2025

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	export async function updateUserPreferences(username, preferenceData) {
	export async function updateAuthenticatedUserPreferences(preferenceData) {

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Language Management Module

Description

Key Features

Implementation Details

New Functions

API Usage

Related Work

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