Since Gettext plugin does not work with Rails 2.2.2 anymore, and I don't like the syntax of bundled I18n, I've made a mixin to extend functionality of String class with .t method:
module Ppds
module CoreExtensions
module String
module TextHelper
def t(*args)
I18n.t self, :default => self.to_s, :value => args
end
end
end
end
end
class String
include Ppds::CoreExtensions::String::TextHelper
end
Now I can write
"Hello, world!".t
and get either a translation if one exists, or the original phrase, like Gettext behaves.
It also let you translate along with substitution:
first_name = "Paul"
"My name is %s".t(first_name)