KI18n Crate for Rust

KI18n is a cross-platform internationalization framework used by KDE applications. This crate is meant to allow using KI18n with Rust and qmetaobject-rs crate.

Motivation

I love KDE. I have been using it as my primary DE for quite a while. I also like Rust Programming Language. Currently, it is nearly impossible to use any KDE frameworks from Rust without some C++ FFI. While FFI is never easy, complexity with C++ is exponentially more than plain C due to the Object-Oriented nature of C++, which is entirely different from Rust's somewhat functional design.

If possible, I would like the Tier-1 KDE Frameworks to be usable from pragmatic Rust in a somewhat natural fashion. I am currently interested in KDE frameworks that are usable with QML.

Requirements

This crate requires KF5I18n to be installed or at least present in the system.

Ubuntu

sudo apt install libkf5i18n-dev

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S ki18n

Custom Location for KF5I18n

The crate searches from KF5I18n using either the environment variables (KF5_I18n_INCLUDE_PATH and KF5_I18n_LIBRARY_PATH) if they are set or just searches at /usr/include /usr/library

Example

use cstr::cstr;
use qmetaobject::prelude::*;
use ki18n_rs::KLocalizedContext;

fn main() {
  let mut engine = QmlEngine::new();
  KLocalizedContext::init_from_engine(&engine);
  engine.load_data(r#"
    import QtQuick 2.6
    import QtQuick.Controls 2.0 as Controls
    import QtQuick.Layouts 1.2
    import org.kde.kirigami 2.13 as Kirigami
    
    // Base element, provides basic features needed for all kirigami applications
    Kirigami.ApplicationWindow {
        // ID provides unique identifier to reference this element
        id: root
    
        // Window title
        // i18nc is useful for adding context for translators, also lets strings be changed for different languages
        title: i18nc("@title:window", "Hello World")
    
        // Initial page to be loaded on app load
        pageStack.initialPage: Kirigami.Page {
    
            Controls.Label {
                // Center label horizontally and vertically within parent element
                anchors.centerIn: parent
                text: i18n("Hello World!")
            }
        }
    }
  "#.into());
  engine.exec();
}