duration Duration Parameter

Overview

The duration parameter type formats time durations such as seconds, minutes, and hours. Unlike date or time parameters which represent a point in time, duration parameters represent a length of time that can be displayed in various styles.

{
  "paramName": "length",
  "type": "duration",
  "style": "short"
}

JSON Structure

Duration parameters are defined in the params array with type: "duration" and specify the style option.

{
  "paramName": "length",
  "type": "duration",
  "style": "short"
}

Style Options

Duration formatting supports different styles for localization:

Style Behavior Details

Digital Style

The digital style displays time in HH:MM:SS format with zero-padding:

3723 seconds → "01:02:03"
 3600 seconds → "01:00:00"
   65 seconds → "00:01:05"

Short/Long Style

The short and long styles show only non-zero components. If all components would be zero, the seconds are shown:

3723 seconds → "1h 2m 3s"
  120 seconds → "2m"
    0 seconds → "0s"

Narrow Style

The narrow style always shows all components with spaces between them:

3723 seconds → "1h 2m 3s"
  120 seconds → "0h 2m 0s"
    0 seconds → "0h 0m 0s"

Language Implementation Comparison

Different programming languages handle duration formatting with consistent style-based approaches.

Generated Code Implementation

Swift Implementation

The Swift implementation provides full support for all duration styles:

static func formatDuration(_ value: Int, _ p: I18NParam) -> String {
    let format = p.style ?? "short"
    let hours = value / 3600
    let minutes = (value % 3600) / 60
    let seconds = value % 60
    switch format {
    case "digital":
        return String(format: "%02d:%02d:%02d", hours, minutes, seconds)
    case "short", "long":
        var result = ""
        if hours > 0 { result += String(hours) + "h " }
        if minutes > 0 { result += String(minutes) + "m " }
        if seconds > 0 || result.isEmpty { result += String(seconds) + "s" }
        return result.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespaces)
    case "narrow":
        return String(hours) + "h " + String(minutes) + "m " + String(seconds) + "s"
    default:
        return "\(value)"
    }
}

TypeScript Implementation

function formatDuration(value: number, p: any): string {
    const hours = Math.floor(value / 3600);
    const minutes = Math.floor((value % 3600) / 60);
    const secs = value % 60;
    const style = p?.style || "short";
    if (style === "digital") {
        return [hours, minutes, secs].map(n => String(n).padStart(2, "0")).join(":");
    }
    return hours + "h " + minutes + "m";
}

JavaScript Implementation

static formatDuration(value, p) {
    const hours = Math.floor(value / 3600);
    const minutes = Math.floor((value % 3600) / 60);
    const secs = value % 60;
    const style = p?.style || "short";
    if (style === "digital") {
        return [hours, minutes, secs].map(n => String(n).padStart(2, "0")).join(":");
    }
    return hours + "h " + minutes + "m";
}

Java Implementation

private static String formatDuration(int seconds, I18NParam p) {
    String style = p != null ? p.style : "short";
    int hours = seconds / 3600;
    int minutes = (seconds % 3600) / 60;
    int secs = seconds % 60;
    if ("digital".equals(style)) {
        return String.format("%02d:%02d:%02d", hours, minutes, secs);
    }
    if (hours > 0) {
        return String.format("%dh %dm", hours, minutes);
    }
    if (minutes > 0) {
        return String.format("%dm", minutes);
    }
    return String.format("%ds", secs);
}

Kotlin Implementation

fun formatDuration(seconds: Int, p: I18NParam): String {
    val style = p.style ?: "short"
    val hours = seconds / 3600
    val minutes = (seconds % 3600) / 60
    val secs = seconds % 60
    if (style == "digital") {
        return String.format("%02d:%02d:%02d", hours, minutes, secs)
    }
    if (hours > 0) {
        return "${hours}h ${minutes}m"
    }
    if (minutes > 0) {
        return "${minutes}m"
    }
    return "${secs}s"
}

Dart Implementation

static String formatDuration(int seconds, Map p) {
  final style = p['style'] ?? 'short';
  final hours = seconds ~/ 3600;
  final minutes = (seconds % 3600) ~/ 60;
  final secs = seconds % 60;
  if (style == 'digital') {
    return hours.toString().padLeft(2, '0') + ':' +
           minutes.toString().padLeft(2, '0') + ':' +
           secs.toString().padLeft(2, '0');
  }
  return hours.toString() + 'h ' + minutes.toString() + 'm';
}

Best Practices

{
  "strings": [
    {
      "key": "video.duration",
      "translations": {
        "en-US": {
          "content": "The video is @{length, duration, style=short}",
          "params": [
            {
              "paramName": "length",
              "type": "duration",
              "style": "short"
            }
          ]
        },
        "zh-CN": {
          "content": "视频时长为@{length, duration, style=short}",
          "params": [
            {
              "paramName": "length",
              "type": "duration",
              "style": "short"
            }
          ]
        },
        "ja-JP": {
          "content": "動画時間は@{length, duration, style=short}です",
          "params": [
            {
              "paramName": "length",
              "type": "duration",
              "style": "short"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

{
  "strings": [
    {
      "key": "video.timestamp",
      "translations": {
        "en-US": {
          "content": "Current position: @{pos, duration, style=digital}",
          "params": [
            {
              "paramName": "pos",
              "type": "duration",
              "style": "digital"
            }
          ]
        },
        "zh-CN": {
          "content": "当前进度：@{pos, duration, style=digital}",
          "params": [
            {
              "paramName": "pos",
              "type": "duration",
              "style": "digital"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Related Parameters

• time - For formatting time of day
• date - For formatting dates
• number - For formatting numbers
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