# Custom Strings

## Setting Custom Strings

A strings object is represented as a JSON object that you set on your Appmixer SDK instance using the `set('strings', myStrings)` method:

```javascript
var appmixer = new Appmixer({ baseUrl: BASE_URL });
appmixer.set('strings', STRINGS);
```

{% hint style="info" %}
You can set the strings object anywhere in your application but usually, you'll do that right after initializing your appmixer instance. Note that you can even set the strings multiple times with different configurations in which case the Appmixer SDK will automatically re-render all the UI widgets using the configuration with new strings.
{% endhint %}

If you don't set strings, the default strings will be applied.

## Structure of the Strings Object

The strings object is a JSON object (with one exception, see below) that contains references to various UI elements within the Appmixer UI. The final values of the JSON objects are the actual strings used in the UI.

Example of setting the strings object:

```javascript
appmixer.set('strings', {
    ui: {
        flowManager: {
            search: 'Search flows',
            header: {
                buttonCreateFlow: 'Create new Flow'
            }
        }
    }
});
```

## Complete Strings Object

For reference, we prepared a complete strings object for you to download and inspect to see all the possibilities for strings customization/localization.

```bash
wget https://my.appmixer.com/appmixer/package/strings-en.json
```

## Time Localization

For localization of time-related strings, a special `time` root scope of the strings object can be modified:

```javascript
appmixer.set('strings', {
  time: {
    months: [...],
    monthsShort: [...],
    weekDaysShort: [...],
    ordinal(number){ ... },
    relativeTime: {...}
  }
});
```

Please download the default strings object above to see all the possibilities for time localization. Notice in the code above that there is one specialty to the time localization which (if used) makes the strings object non-JSON compliant. That's the `ordinal(number)` function. Given a number, this function returns a string representing the number in ordinal form (i.e. 1 becomes "1st", 2 becomes "2nd", ...). Since this is hard to describe declaratively in JSON, the strings object may contain the `oridnal(number)` function for you to be able to localize ordinal numbers. The default implementation looks like this:

```javascript
ordinal(number) {
   const b = number % 10;
   const output = (~~(number % 100 / 10) === 1) ? 'th'
       : (b === 1) ? 'st'
           : (b === 2) ? 'nd'
               : (b === 3) ? 'rd' : 'th';
   return number + output;
}
```

## Pluralization and Strings with Variables

Some text can contain both singular and plural versions based on whether the number variable used inside the text equals `1` or not. For example, the pagination widget in the Flows Manager:

<figure><img src="/files/Y8AeZLHfP39TU3LTZ22t" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

The "of 198 flows" string used above can vary based on whether the total number of flows is more than one or if it equals one. The two versions can be expressed using the `|` character in the strings object like so:

```javascript
appmixer.set('strings', {
    ui: {
        flowManager: {
            pagination: '{{range}} of {{total}} flow|{{range}} of {{total}} flows'
        }
    }
});
```

Also, notice the use of variables (`{{total}}` in the example above). Variables are always enclosed by two curly brackets and are replaced by the SDK with the actual numbers when used. See the Appmixer default strings object for all occurrences of variables.


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