the best way to make codeigniter website multi-language. calling from lang arrays depends on lang session? - arrays

Question

I'm researching hours and hours, but I could not find any clear, efficient way to make it :/
I have a codeigniter base website in English and I have to add a Polish language now. What is the best way to make my site in 2 language depending visitor selection?
is there any way to create array files for each language and call them in view files depends on Session from lang selection? I don't wanna use database.
Appreciate helps! I'm running out of deadline :/ thanks!!

Answer 1

Have you seen CodeIgniter's Language library?
The Language Class provides functions
to retrieve language files and lines
of text for purposes of internationalization.
In your CodeIgniter system folder you'll
find one called language containing sets
of language files. You can create your
own language files as needed in order
to display error and other messages in
other languages.
Language files are typically stored in
your system/language directory. Alternately
you can create a folder called language
inside your application folder and store
them there. CodeIgniter will look first
in your application/language directory.
If the directory does not exist or the
specified language is not located there
CI will instead look in your global
system/language folder.
In your case...
you need to create a polish_lang.php and english_lang.php inside application/language/polish
then create your keys inside that file (e.g. $lang['hello'] = "Witaj";
then load it in your controller like $this->lang->load('polish_lang', 'polish');
then fetch the line like $this->lang->line('hello'); Just store the return value of this function in a variable so you can use it in your view.
Repeat the steps for the english language and all other languages you need.

Answer 2

Also to add the language to the session, I would define some constants for each language, then make sure you have the session library autoloaded in config/autoload.php, or you load it whenever you need it. Add the users desired language to the session:
$this->session->set_userdata('language', ENGLISH);
Then you can grab it anytime like this:
$language = $this->session->userdata('language');

Answer 3

In the controller add following lines when you make the cunstructor
i.e, after
parent::Controller();
add below lines
$this->load->helper('lang_translate');
$this->lang->load('nl_site', 'nl'); // ('filename', 'directory')
create helper file lang_translate_helper.php with following function and put it in directory system\application\helpers
function label($label, $obj)
{
$return = $obj->lang->line($label);
if($return)
echo $return;
else
echo $label;
}
for each of the language, create a directory with language abbrevation like en, nl, fr, etc., under
system\application\languages
create language file in above (respective) directory which will contain $lang array holding pairs label=>language_value as given below
nl_site_lang.php
$lang['welcome'] = 'Welkom';
$lang['hello word'] = 'worde Witaj';
en_site_lang.php
$lang['welcome'] = 'Welcome';
$lang['hello word'] = 'Hello Word';
you can store multiple files for same language with differently as per the requirement
e.g, if you want separate language file for managing backend (administrator section) you can use it in controller as $this->lang->load('nl_admin', 'nl');
nl_admin_lang.php
$lang['welcome'] = 'Welkom';
$lang['hello word'] = 'worde Witaj';
and finally
to print the label in desired language, access labels as below in view
label('welcome', $this);
OR
label('hello word', $this);
note the space in hello & word you can use it like this way as well :)
whene there is no lable defined in the language file, it will simply print it what you passed to the function label.

Answer 4

I second Randell's answer.
However, one could always integrate a GeoIP such as http://www.maxmind.com/app/php
or http://www.ipinfodb.com/. Then you can save the results with the codeigniter session class.
If you want to use the ipinfodb.com api You can add the ip2locationlite.class.php file to your codeigniter application library folder and then create a model function to do whatever geoip logic you need for your application, such as:
function geolocate()
{
$ipinfodb = new ipinfodb;
$ipinfodb->setKey('API KEY');
//Get errors and locations
$locations = $ipinfodb->getGeoLocation($this->input->ip_address());
$errors = $ipinfodb->getError();
//Set geolocation cookie
if(empty($errors))
{
foreach ($locations as $field => $val):
if($field === 'CountryCode')
{
$place = $val;
}
endforeach;
}
return $place;
}

Answer 5

For easier use CI have updated this so you can just use
$this->load->helper('language');
and to translate text
lang('language line');
and if you want to warp it inside label then use optional parameter
lang('language line', 'element id');
This will output
// becomes <label for="form_item_id">language_key</label>
For good reading
http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/helpers/language_helper.html

Answer 6

I've used Wiredesignz's MY_Language class with great success.
I've just published it on github, as I can't seem to find a trace of it anywhere.
https://github.com/meigwilym/CI_Language
My only changes are to rename the class to CI_Lang, in accordance with the new v2 changes.

Answer 7

When managing the actual files, things can get out of sync pretty easily unless you're really vigilant. So we've launched a (beta) free service called String which allows you to keep track of your language files easily, and collaborate with translators.
You can either import existing language files (in PHP array, PHP Define, ini, po or .strings formats) or create your own sections from scratch and add content directly through the system.
String is totally free so please check it out and tell us what you think.
It's actually built on Codeigniter too! Check out the beta at http://mygengo.com/string

Answer 8

Follow this https://github.com/EllisLab/CodeIgniter/wiki/CodeIgniter-2.1-internationalization-i18n
its simple and clear, also check out the document # http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/libraries/language.html
its way simpler than

Answer 9

I am using such code in config.php:
$lang = 'ru'; // this language will be used if there is no any lang information from useragent (for example, from command line, wget, etc...
if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'])) $lang = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'],0,2);
$tmp_value = $_COOKIE['language'];
if (!empty($tmp_value)) $lang = $tmp_value;
switch ($lang)
{
case 'ru':
$config['language'] = 'russian';
setlocale(LC_ALL,'ru_RU.UTF-8');
break;
case 'uk':
$config['language'] = 'ukrainian';
setlocale(LC_ALL,'uk_UA.UTF-8');
break;
case 'foo':
$config['language'] = 'foo';
setlocale(LC_ALL,'foo_FOO.UTF-8');
break;
default:
$config['language'] = 'english';
setlocale(LC_ALL,'en_US.UTF-8');
break;
}
.... and then i'm using usualy internal mechanizm of CI
o, almost forget! in views i using buttons, which seting cookie 'language' with language, prefered by user.
So, first this code try to detect "preffered language" setted in user`s useragent (browser). Then code try to read cookie 'language'. And finaly - switch sets language for CI-application

Answer 10

you can make a function like this
function translateTo($language, $word) {
define('defaultLang','english');
if (isset($lang[$language][$word]) == FALSE)
return $lang[$language][$word];
else
return $lang[defaultLang][$word];
}

Answer 11

Friend, don't worry, if you have any application installed built in codeigniter and you wanna add some language pack just follow these steps:
1. Add language files in folder application/language/arabic (i add arabic lang in sma2 built in ci)
2. Go to the file named setting.php in application/modules/settings/views/setting.php. Here you find the array
<?php /*
$lang = array (
'english' => 'English',
'arabic' => 'Arabic', // i add this here
'spanish' => 'Español'
Now save and run the application. It's worked fine.