Internationalization Considerations
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Explain why hardcoded formats and text break for non-English users
- Format numbers, dates, and currency using the user's locale
- Combine Custom Labels with locale-aware formatting for fully internationalized components
Prerequisites: "Loading Third-Party JavaScript Libraries"
Why This Matters
A date rendered as 08/09/2026 is ambiguous — August 9th in the US date convention, but the 8th of September elsewhere. A hardcoded $ currency symbol is simply wrong for a user in another currency's locale. Real Salesforce orgs are frequently used by teams across many countries, and components need to adapt, not assume one locale.
@salesforce/i18n
import LOCALE from '@salesforce/i18n/locale';
import CURRENCY_CODE from '@salesforce/i18n/currency';@salesforce/i18n exposes the running user's actual locale and currency settings — the values to feed into formatting, rather than a hardcoded assumption.
The Intl API
get formattedDate() {
return new Intl.DateTimeFormat(LOCALE).format(new Date(this.record.createdDate));
}
get formattedAmount() {
return new Intl.NumberFormat(LOCALE, { style: 'currency', currency: CURRENCY_CODE }).format(this.record.amount);
}The browser-native Intl API (Intl.DateTimeFormat, Intl.NumberFormat) formats a value correctly for a given locale — passing in the user's real locale from @salesforce/i18n instead of hardcoding one produces output that's actually correct for that specific user.
Combining with Custom Labels
Locale-aware formatting (this lesson) handles numbers, dates, and currency; Custom Labels (Lesson 4) handle translatable text. A genuinely internationalized component needs both — correctly formatted data, and text that's actually translated for the user reading it.
Exercise
Write a formattedRevenue getter that formats this.revenue as currency using the user's actual locale and currency, imported from @salesforce/i18n.
Show hint
Use Intl.NumberFormat with style: "currency".
Exercise
Challenge: explain, as a comment, why a date rendered as "08/09/2026" is genuinely ambiguous without locale context.
Show hint
Think about the different date-ordering conventions used around the world.
Internationalization Considerations Quiz
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Summary
Salesforce orgs are frequently multi-national — locale-aware formatting and Custom Labels together are what make a component work correctly for every user, not just English-speaking ones in the US.