feat: Ability to set installation-wide default locale (#1433)

* Dashboard locale can be set via env variable
* Change account locale based on registration page
* Set account locale if available

Co-authored-by: Pranav Raj Sreepuram <pranavrajs@gmail.com>

.env.example

@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ SECRET_KEY_BASE=replace_with_lengthy_secure_hex
 # Replace with the URL you are planning to use for your app
 FRONTEND_URL=http://0.0.0.0:3000
 
+# If the variable is set, all non-authenticated pages would fallback to the default locale.
+# Whenever a new account is created, the default language will be DEFAULT_LOCALE instead of en
+# DEFAULT_LOCALE=en
+
 # If you plan to use CDN for your assets, set Asset CDN Host
 ASSET_CDN_HOST=
 

app/builders/account_builder.rb

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class AccountBuilder
   end
 
   def create_account
-    @account = Account.create!(name: @account_name)
+    @account = Account.create!(name: @account_name, locale: I18n.locale)
     Current.account = @account
   end
 

app/controllers/application_controller.rb

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   protect_from_forgery with: :null_session
 
   before_action :set_current_user, unless: :devise_controller?
-  around_action :switch_locale
+  include SwitchLocale
   around_action :handle_with_exception, unless: :devise_controller?
 
   # after_action :verify_authorized
@@ -60,28 +60,6 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
     render json: exception.to_hash, status: exception.http_status
   end
 
-  def locale_from_params
-    I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(params[:locale]) ? params[:locale] : nil
-  end
-
-  def locale_from_account(account)
-    return unless account
-
-    I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(account.locale) ? account.locale : nil
-  end
-
-  def switch_locale(&action)
-    # priority is for locale set in query string (mostly for widget/from js sdk)
-    locale ||= locale_from_params
-    # if local is not set in param, lets try account
-    locale ||= locale_from_account(@current_account)
-    # if nothing works we rely on default locale
-    locale ||= I18n.default_locale
-    # ensure locale won't bleed into other requests
-    # https://guides.rubyonrails.org/i18n.html#managing-the-locale-across-requests
-    I18n.with_locale(locale, &action)
-  end
-
   def pundit_user
     {
       user: Current.user,

app/controllers/concerns/switch_locale.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+module SwitchLocale
+  extend ActiveSupport::Concern
+  included do
+    around_action :switch_locale
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def switch_locale(&action)
+    # priority is for locale set in query string (mostly for widget/from js sdk)
+    locale ||= locale_from_params
+    # if locale is not set in param, lets try account
+    locale ||= locale_from_account(@current_account)
+    # if locale is not set in account, let's use DEFAULT_LOCALE env variable
+    locale ||= locale_from_env_variable
+    # if nothing works we rely on default locale
+    locale ||= I18n.default_locale
+    # ensure locale won't bleed into other requests
+    # https://guides.rubyonrails.org/i18n.html#managing-the-locale-across-requests
+    I18n.with_locale(locale, &action)
+  end
+
+  def locale_from_params
+    I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(params[:locale]) ? params[:locale] : nil
+  end
+
+  def locale_from_account(account)
+    return unless account
+
+    I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(account.locale) ? account.locale : nil
+  end
+
+  def locale_from_env_variable
+    return unless ENV.fetch('DEFAULT_LOCALE', nil)
+
+    I18n.available_locales.map(&:to_s).include?(ENV.fetch('DEFAULT_LOCALE')) ? ENV.fetch('DEFAULT_LOCALE') : nil
+  end
+end

app/controllers/dashboard_controller.rb

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 class DashboardController < ActionController::Base
   before_action :set_global_config
+  include SwitchLocale
 
   layout 'vueapp'
 

app/javascript/dashboard/App.vue

@@ -28,10 +28,15 @@ export default {
 
   mounted() {
     this.$store.dispatch('setUser');
+    this.setLocale(window.chatwootConfig.selectedLocale);
     this.initializeAccount();
   },
 
   methods: {
+    setLocale(locale) {
+      Vue.config.lang = locale;
+    },
+
     async initializeAccount() {
       const { pathname } = window.location;
       const accountId = accountIdFromPathname(pathname);
@@ -39,7 +44,7 @@ export default {
       if (accountId) {
         await this.$store.dispatch('accounts/get');
         const { locale } = this.getAccount(accountId);
-        Vue.config.lang = locale;
+        this.setLocale(locale);
       }
     },
   },

app/views/layouts/vueapp.html.erb

@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@
         <% if ENV['VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY'] %>
         vapidPublicKey: new Uint8Array(<%= Base64.urlsafe_decode64(ENV['VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY']).bytes %>),
         <% end %>
-        enabledLanguages: <%= available_locales_with_name.to_json.html_safe %>
+        enabledLanguages: <%= available_locales_with_name.to_json.html_safe %>,
+        selectedLocale: '<%= I18n.locale %>'
       }
       window.globalConfig = <%= raw @global_config.to_json %>
     </script>

docs/development/project-setup/environment-variables.md

@@ -93,6 +93,12 @@ Provide the following value as frontend url
 FRONTEND_URL='http://localhost:3000'
 ```
 
+### Configure default language
+
+```bash
+DEFAULT_LOCALE='en'
+```
+
 ### Configure storage
 
 Chatwoot uses [active storage](https://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/active_storage_overview.html) for storing attachments. The default storage option is the local storage on your server.