simple Django model localization

meta.py

from django.db.models.base import ModelBase
from django.utils.translation import get_language
from django.conf import settings

__all__ = ('Translate', 'LocalizeModelBase')

# a dummy placeholder object
Translate = object()


class LocalizeModelBase(ModelBase):
    """This meta-class provides automatically translated content properties. Set
    a model field to `Translate` and it will automatically return the property
    with the name of the current language. E.g. if there is a normal member
    `text_de`, a member `text = Translate` and the current language is `de`, then
    an object will return the content of `text_de` when it is asked for the value
    of `text`.
    """
    def __new__(metacls, classname, bases, classDict):
        # find all classDict entries that point to `Translate`
        for key in classDict.keys():
            if classDict[key] is Translate:
                # replace them with a getter that uses the current language
                classDict[key] = make_property(key)
        return super(LocalizeModelBase, metacls).__new__(metacls, classname, bases, classDict)


def make_property(k):
    """Creates a new property that implements the automatic translation
    described above. Every use of `Translate` in a class definition will be
    replaces with a property returned by this function."""
    def pget(self):
        try:
            # try to return the attribute for the current language
            return getattr(self, "%s_%s" % (k, get_language()))
        except AttributeError:
            # use the default language if the current language is not available
            return getattr(self, "%s_%s" % (k, settings.LANGUAGE_CODE))
    return property(pget)