Common FBT strings
The fbt framework provides a way to define common simple strings in one shared location. The expected format is as a text to description map.
E.g
// OurCommonStrings.js
module.exports = {
"Photo": "Still image ...",
"Video": "Moving pictures ...",
...
};
FBT Transform
It accepts these common strings via the main Babel transform, babel-plugin-fbt, as a plugin option.
Example Babel setup:
{
plugins: [
['babel-plugin-fbt', {
fbtCommonPath: "/path/to/OurCommonStrings.js",
// OR inlined...
fbtCommon: {
"Photo": "...",
...
},
...
}],
...
]
}
Runtime API
To use the strings at runtime, there is the fbt.c(...) function call or the <fbt common=true>...</fbt> JSX API.
NOTE: The transform will throw if it encounters a common string not in the map provided.
E.g.
<button>
{fbt.c('Photo')}
</button>
or
<button>
<fbt common>Photo</fbt>
</button>
Both examples above function as if the engineer had also included the description with the text.
<fbt desc="Still image ...">Photo</fbt>
All of these instances would produce the same identifying hash at collection time, and thus coalesce into the same translation.