Yii2 translating data stored in database - php

Question

I'm working with Yii2 Framework, and already configured i18n component using this guide:
http://thecodeninja.net/2014/12/i18n-with-yii-2-advanced-template/
So, I can now translate strings within my php files using Yii::t() function. Translatable strings are extracted using $ ./yii message/extract console command, which generates proper translation files.
I now need to display translations for strings stored in the database.
I could use Yii:t() with a variable instead of a string as an argument like this
echo Yii:t('app', $some_string_from_db );
and make a new php file with some code like this
<?php
function dbStringsToTranslate() {
$o = Yii::t('app','db english string 1');
$o.= Yii::t('app','db english string 2');
$o.= Yii::t('app','db english string 3');
return $o;
}
This way $ ./yii message/extract command will find the needed translations.
This is working Ok, but of course $ ./yii message/extract is throwing some warnings anywhere I use Yii:t() with variables.
Skipping line 39. Make sure both category and message are static strings.
I think this is not a big deal, but well, here is my question:
Is this a right way to translate strings stored in a database?
Is there a better way to accomplish this?

Answer 1

You can check out this extension. https://github.com/creocoder/yii2-translateable it allows for attaching behaviors to models to support multiple languages.
I am using it now in a projects and it is easy to use.

Answer 2

I was having the same problem, and I found the solution with this module. In the module configuration you have the 'tables' array, in which you can specify which field(s) of which table(s) should be translated.
Then, the module has its own 'scan' action (equivalent to message/extract) with which it adds all the translatable strings to database (using DbMessageSource): all Yii::t, the specified database fields, and many more (even javascript, check the docs). It also has a nice user interface to do the translations, it's awesome!
For example, with the following configuration the field name from table nationality will be scanned and added for its translation (i.e country names):
'modules' => [
'translatemanager' => [
'class' => 'lajax\translatemanager\Module',
...
'tables' => [ // Properties of individual tables
[
'connection' => 'db', // connection identifier
'table' => 'nationality', // table name
'columns' => ['name'], // names of multilingual fields
'category' => 'database-table-name',// the category is the database table name
'categoryPrefix' => 'lx-' //
]
]
],
],

Answer 3

You can generate php file with some fake Yii:t() calls.
For example:
$filename = Yii::getAlias('#frontend/runtime/fake-category-translations.php');
$str = '<?php' . PHP_EOL;
foreach (Category::find()->all() as $category) {
$str .= "Yii::t('category', '{$category->name}');" . PHP_EOL;
}
file_put_contents($filename, $str);
In output this file will be something like this:
<?php
Yii::t('category', 'Art & Design');
Yii::t('category', 'Creativity');
Yii::t('category', 'Educational');
Yii::t('category', 'Education');
Yii::t('category', 'Lifestyle');
Yii::t('category', 'Casual');
So, now you can just call console method for searching untranslated strings:
php yii message/extract #frontend/messages/config.php

Answer 4

I know this is old but I faced same thing with rest API, and here is how I went about resolving it. Note that When saving I used
$post->comment = Yii::t('app', 'My Nice Comment here');
$post->save();
class Post extends ActiveRecord
{
public function fields()
{
$fields = parent::fields();
$fields['comment'] = function ($model) {
return Yii::t('app', $model->comment);
};
return $fields;
}
}