This is the Sanity Studio v3 version of sanity-plugin-internationalized-array.

For the v2 version, please refer to the v2-branch.

sanity-plugin-internationalized-array

A plugin to register array fields with a custom input component to store field values in multiple languages, queryable by using the language ID as an array _key.

sanity-plugin-internationalized-array

Installation

npm install --save sanity-plugin-internationalized-array

yarn add sanity-plugin-internationalized-array

Usage for simple field types

Add it as a plugin in sanity.config.ts (or .js):

import {defineConfig} from 'sanity'
import {internationalizedArray} from 'sanity-plugin-internationalized-array'

 export const defineConfig({
  // ...
  plugins: [
    internationalizedArray({
      languages: [
        {id: 'en', title: 'English'},
        {id: 'fr', title: 'French'}
      ],
      defaultLanguages: ['en'],
      fieldTypes: ['string'],
    })
  ]
})

This will register two new fields to the schema, based on the settings passed into fieldTypes:

internationalizedArrayString an array field of:
internationalizedArrayStringValue an object field, with a single string field inside called value

The above config will also create an empty array item in new documents for each language in defaultLanguages. This is configured globally for all internationalized array fields.

You can pass in more registered schema-type names to generate more internationalized arrays. Use them in your schema like this:

// For example, in postType.ts

fields: [
  defineField({
    name: 'greeting',
    type: 'internationalizedArrayString',
  }),
]

Loading languages

Languages must be an array of objects with an id and title.

languages: [
  {id: 'en', title: 'English'},
  {id: 'fr', title: 'French'}
],

Or an asynchronous function that returns an array of objects with an id and title.

languages: async () => {
  const response = await fetch('https://example.com/languages')
  return response.json()
}

The async function contains a configured Sanity Client in the first parameter, allowing you to store Language options as documents. Your query should return an array of objects with an id and title.

languages: async (client) => {
  const response = await client.fetch(`*[_type == "language"]{ id, title }`)
  return response
},

Additionally, you can "pick" fields from a document, to pass into the query. For example, if you have a concept of "Markets" where only certain language fields are required in certain markets.

In this example, each language document has an array of strings called markets to declare where that language can be used. And the document being authored has a single market field.

select: {
  market: 'market'
},
languages: async (client, {market = ``}) => {
  const response = await client.fetch(
    `*[_type == "language" && $market in markets]{ id, title }`,
    {market}
  )
  return response
},

Configuring the "Add translation" buttons

The "Add translation" buttons can be positioned in one or multiple locations by configuring buttonLocations:

field (default) Below the internationalized array field
unstable__fieldAction Inside a Field Action (currently unstable)
document Above the document fields, these buttons will add a new language item to every internationalized array field that can be found at the root of the document. Nested internationalized arrays are not yet supported.

The "Add all languages" button can be hidden with buttonAddAll.

import {defineConfig} from 'sanity'
import {internationalizedArray} from 'sanity-plugin-internationalized-array'

 export const defineConfig({
  // ...
  plugins: [
    internationalizedArray({
      // ...other config
      buttonLocations: ['field', 'unstable__fieldAction', 'document'], // default ['field']
      buttonAddAll: false // default true
    })
  ]
})

Using complex field configurations

For more control over the value field, you can pass a schema definition into the fieldTypes array.

import {defineConfig} from 'sanity'
import {internationalizedArray} from 'sanity-plugin-internationalized-array'

 export const defineConfig({
  // ...
  plugins: [
    internationalizedArray({
      languages: [
        {id: 'en', title: 'English'},
        {id: 'fr', title: 'French'}
      ],
      fieldTypes: [
        defineField({
          name: 'featuredProduct',
          type: 'reference',
          to: [{type: 'product'}]
          hidden: (({document}) => !document?.title)
        })
      ],
    })
  ]
})

This would also create two new fields in your schema.

internationalizedArrayFeaturedProduct an array field of:
internationalizedArrayFeaturedProductValue an object field, with a single string field inside called value

Note that the name key in the field gets rewritten to value and is instead used to name the object field.

Creating internationalized objects

Due to how fields are created, you cannot use anonymous objects in the fieldTypes array. You must register the object type in your Studio's schema as an "alias type".

// ./schemas/seoType.ts

import {defineField} from 'sanity'

export const seoType = defineField({
  name: 'seo',
  title: 'SEO',
  type: 'object',
  fields: [
    defineField({name: 'title', type: 'string'}),
    defineField({name: 'description', type: 'string'}),
  ],
})

Then in your plugin configuration settings, add the name of your alias type to the fieldTypes setting.

internationalizedArray({
  languages: [
    //...languages
  ],
  fieldTypes: ['seo'],
})

Lastly, add the field to your schema.

// ./schemas/post.ts

import {defineField, defineType} from 'sanity'

export default defineType({
  name: 'post',
  title: 'Post',
  type: 'document',
  fields: [
    defineField({
      name: 'seo',
      type: 'internationalizedArraySeo',
    }),
  ],
})

Validation of individual array items

You may wish to validate individual language fields for various reasons. From the internationalized array field, add a validation rule that can look through all the array items, and return item-specific validation messages at the path of that array item.

defineField({
  name: 'title',
  type: 'internationalizedArrayString',
  description: `Use fewer than 5 words.`,
  validation: (rule) =>
    rule.custom<{value: string; _type: string; _key: string}[]>((value) => {
      if (!value) {
        return 'Title is required'
      }

      const invalidItems = value.filter(
        (item) => item.value.split(' ').length > 5,
      )

      if (invalidItems.length) {
        return invalidItems.map((item) => ({
          message: `Title is too long. Must be 5 words or fewer.`,
          path: [{_key: item._key}, 'value'],
        }))
      }

      return true
    }),
}),

Usage with @sanity/language-filter

If you have many languages and authors that predominately write in only a few, @sanity/language-filter can be used to reduce the number of language fields shown in the document form.

Configure both plugins in your sanity.config.ts file:

// ./sanity.config.ts

import {defineConfig, isKeySegment} from 'sanity'
import {languageFilter} from '@sanity/language-filter'

export default defineConfig({
  // ... other config
  plugins: [
    // ... other plugins
    languageFilter({
      // Use the same languages as the internationalized array plugin
      supportedLanguages: SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES,
      defaultLanguages: [],
      documentTypes: ['post'],
      filterField: (enclosingType, member, selectedLanguageIds) => {
        // Filter internationalized arrays
        if (
          enclosingType.jsonType === 'object' &&
          enclosingType.name.startsWith('internationalizedArray') &&
          'kind' in member
        ) {
          // Get last two segments of the field's path
          const pathEnd = member.field.path.slice(-2)
          // If the second-last segment is a _key, and the last segment is `value`,
          // It's an internationalized array value
          // And the array _key is the language of the field
          const language =
            pathEnd[1] === 'value' && isKeySegment(pathEnd[0])
              ? pathEnd[0]._key
              : null

          return language ? selectedLanguageIds.includes(language) : false
        }

        // Filter internationalized objects if you have them
        // `localeString` must be registered as a custom schema type
        if (
          enclosingType.jsonType === 'object' &&
          enclosingType.name.startsWith('locale')
        ) {
          return selectedLanguageIds.includes(member.name)
        }

        return true
      },
    }),
  ],
})

Shape of stored data

The custom input contains buttons which will add new array items with the language as the _key value. Data returned from this array will look like this:

"greeting": [
  { "_key": "en", "value": "hello" },
  { "_key": "fr", "value": "bonjour" },
]

Querying data

Using GROQ filters you can query for a specific language key like so:

*[_type == "person"] {
  "greeting": greeting[_key == "en"][0].value
}

Migrate from objects to arrays

See the migration script inside ./migrations/transformObjectToArray.ts of this Repo.

Follow the instructions inside the script and set the _type and field name you wish to target.

Please take a backup first!

Why store localized field data like this?

The most popular way to store field-level translated content is in an object using the method prescribed in @sanity/language-filter. This works well and creates tidy object structures, but also creates a unique field path for every unique field name, multiplied by the number of languages in your dataset.

For most people, this won't become an issue. On a very large dataset with a lot of languages, the Attribute Limit can become a concern. This plugin's arrays will use fewer attributes than an object once you have more than three languages.

The same content as above, plus a third language, structured as an object of string fields looks like this:

"greeting" {
  "en": "hello",
  "fr": "bonjour",
  "es": "hola"
}

Which creates four unique query paths, one for the object and one for each language.

greeting
greeting.en
greeting.fr
greeting.es

Every language you add to every object that uses this structure will add to the number of unique query paths.

The array created by this plugin creates four query paths by default, but is not affected by the number of languages:

greeting
greeting[]
greeting[]._key
greeting[].value

By using this plugin you can safely extend the number of languages without adding any additional query paths.

License

MIT-licensed. See LICENSE.

Develop & test

This plugin uses @sanity/plugin-kit with default configuration for build & watch scripts.

See Testing a plugin in Sanity Studio on how to run this plugin with hotreload in the studio.

Release new version

Run "CI & Release" workflow. Make sure to select the main branch and check "Release new version".

Semantic release will only release on configured branches, so it is safe to run release on any branch.