I'm creating an open-source cms and was just wondering that which is the best way to add localizations? I already decided to have them in files similar to lang.en.php. I would assume arrays, but in which form?
$lang['xyz'] = "Text goes here!";
$lang['Text goes here!'] = "Translated text!";
Or should I create my custom parser and add localizations to a file, like this:
"Text goes here!" = "Translated text!";
And then just parse it.
What would you suggest? I tried to search but no results for me.
Martti Laine
I know the Gettext library for Desktop applications does something similar to your custom parser. Gettext has a module in PHP, but I'm not sure if it's installed in most PHP installations by default.
Basically, you would write every string with it with a function name tr("How are you?"). Then create a function to translate it:
include('lang.es.php');
function tr($txt) {
global $tr;
if(array_key_exists($txt,$tr)) {
return $tr($txt);
}
return $txt;
}
And in lang.es.php, have:
$tr = array();
$tr["How are you?"] = "¿Como Estas?";
You would probably want to do printf(tr("How are you, %s?"), $name); for variables, or proper nouns that should not be translated.
I think you should use the Joomla way. Language files must be in ini extension:
FOO=translation
BAR=translation2
then you parse the file with parse_ini_file function and get the translation array:
$dictionary=parse_ini_file("english.ini");
function translate($text)
{
global $dictionary;
if(isset($dictionary[strtoupper($text)])) return $dictionary[strtoupper($text)];
else return $text;
}
It's not as simple as you think it is, do you really need hundreds of rows in an array in order to translate I deleted 45 comments, or I deleted 192 comments? etc.
It would be very helpful if you could call a translate function with: translate('I deleted %d comments', $number);
<?php
$dict = parse_ini_file('lang.ini');
function translate($text){
global $dict;
$args = func_get_args();
if(isset($dict[$text])){
// I am not sure how to convert %d in $args[.], maybe someone else could provide a regular expression for this.
} else {
return $text;
}
}
?>
How will you manage plural form ?
Some languages have very tricky plural rules : example here
In Polish we use e.g. plik (file) this
way:
1 plik
2,3,4 pliki
5-21 pliko'w
22-24 pliki
25-31 pliko'w
For this reason, I suggest you to use gettext because everything has been done for you.
Related
I have a file like this
**buffer.php**
ob_start();
<h1>Welcome</h1>
{replace_me_with_working_php_include}
<h2>I got a problem..</h2>
ob_end_flush();
Everything inside the buffer is dynamically made with data from the database.
And inserting php into the database is not an option.
The issue is, I got my output buffer and i want to replace '{replace}' with a working php include, which includes a file that also has some html/php.
So my actual question is: How do i replace a string with working php-code in a output-buffer?
I hope you can help, have used way to much time on this.
Best regards - user2453885
EDIT - 25/11/14
I know wordpress or joomla is using some similar functions, you can write {rate} in your post, and it replaces it with a rating system(some rate-plugin). This is the secret knowledge I desire.
You can use preg_replace_callback and let the callback include the file you want to include and return the output. Or you could replace the placeholders with textual includes, save that as a file and include that file (sort of compile the thing)
For simple text you could do explode (though it's probably not the most efficient for large blocks of text):
function StringSwap($text ="", $rootdir ="", $begin = "{", $end = "}") {
// Explode beginning
$go = explode($begin,$text);
// Loop through the array
if(is_array($go)) {
foreach($go as $value) {
// Split ends if available
$value = explode($end,$value);
// If there is an end, key 0 should be the replacement
if(count($value) > 1) {
// Check if the file exists based on your root
if(is_file($rootdir . $value[0])) {
// If it is a real file, mark it and remove it
$new[]['file'] = $rootdir . $value[0];
unset($value[0]);
}
// All others set as text
$new[]['txt'] = implode($value);
}
else
// If not an array, not a file, just assign as text
$new[]['txt'] = $value;
}
}
// Loop through new array and handle each block as text or include
foreach($new as $block) {
if(isset($block['txt'])) {
echo (is_array($block['txt']))? implode(" ",$block['txt']): $block['txt']." ";
}
elseif(isset($block['file'])) {
include_once($block['file']);
}
}
}
// To use, drop your text in here as a string
// You need to set a root directory so it can map properly
StringSwap($text);
I might be misunderstanding something here, but something simple like this might work?
<?php
# Main page (retrieved from the database or wherever into a variable - output buffer example shown)
ob_start();
<h1>Welcome</h1>
{replace_me_with_working_php_include}
<h2>I got a problem..</h2>
$main = ob_get_clean();
# Replacement
ob_start();
include 'whatever.php';
$replacement = ob_get_clean();
echo str_replace('{replace_me_with_working_php_include}', $replacement, $main);
You can also use a return statement from within an include file if you wish to remove the output buffer from that task too.
Good luck!
Ty all for some lovely input.
I will try and anwser my own question as clear as I can.
problem: I first thought that I wanted to implement a php-function or include inside a buffer. This however is not what I wanted, and is not intended.
Solution: Callback function with my desired content. By using the function preg_replace_callback(), I could find the text I wanted to replace in my buffer and then replace it with whatever the callback(function) would return.
The callback then included the necessary files/.classes and used the functions with written content in it.
Tell me if you did not understand, or want to elaborate/tell more about my solution.
In Drupal, there are many functions that are hook_functionname1, hook_functionname2. When writing a module, you have to replace the text 'hook' with your module name, so Drupal loads your module "my_drupal_module" and runs hooks like "my_drupal_module_functionname1" and "my_drupal_module_functionname2".
Is it possible in PHP to use DEFINE to simply define the word "hook" and set it to a string? If it is possible, then you should be able to copy and paste word-for-word hook_anything and not have to change it. And, if you ever wanted to change the name of your module, you would merely change the single constant, rather than find/replace all the function names.
So can you use DEFINE or some other setting to meta-program in PHP?
You want something like:
$moduleFunctionName = 'hook';
$functionNameOne = $moduleFunctionName . '_functionname1';
$functionNameTwo = $moduleFunctionName . '_functionname2';
$functionNameOne = function($var) {
// blah
}
..//
Function $functionNameOne is defined through anonymous function. It becames available in php from php 5.3.0
Maybe you want something like this
<?
define('PREFIX', 'myprefix');
//like this time you deside that this will me the second part
$somevar = '_this_function_name';
// now we combine prefix and name
$function_name = PREFIX . $somevar;
// now we check if we can run this function
if(!function_exists($function_name)){
echo "no function $funcion_name exist";
}
else{
$function_name();
}
function myprefix_this_function_name(){
echo 'running function';
}
?>
this will output
running function
This actually works:
define('FN_NAMESPACE', 'hook_');
${FN_NAMESPACE . 'functionNameOne'} = function($var) {
echo "Hi, I got $var\n";
};
$hook_functionNameOne('test');
Will output
Hi, I got test
I am developing a php website that needs to be multilingual.
For this reason, I implemented a translation function which has the following header:
function t($string, $replace_pairs = array(), $language = NULL)
Basically, this function is called like this in multiples files of my project:
echo '<p>' . t('Hello world!') . '</p>';
$hello_String = t("Hello #name!", array('#name'=>$username));
I haven't generated the translation strings yet and I would like to generate multiple translation file automatically (one for each language).
What I am looking for is a bash program (or a single command, using grep for example) that would look for every call to this t() function and generate a php file with the following structure:
<?php
/* Translation file "fr.php" */
$strings['fr']['Hello world!'] = '';
$strings['fr']['Hello #name!'] = '';
Has anyone ever encountered this situation and could help me with this ?
Thank you very much.
Kind regards,
Matthieu
Yes, you're not exactly the first to come across this. :)
You can use the venerable gettext system for this, you don't need to invent your own functions. Then you'd get to use xgettext, which is a command line utility to extract strings using the _() function.
If you want to roll your own system for whatever reason, your best bet is to write a PHP script which uses token_get_all to tokenize the source, then go through the tokens and look for T_FUNCTIONs with the value t.
No need to reinvent the wheel
Drupal uses the same t() function for its localization and the potx module is your friend.
If you don't already have, or want to install, a drupal instance you can look at the potx.inc file and reuse it in your script.
Here is the complete API documentation for the translation template extractor.
Try this script http://pastie.org/4568713
Usage:
php script.php ./proj-directory lang1 lang2 lang3
This creates lang1.php, lang2.php, lang3.php files in ./lang directory
You need two functions:
1- scan directories for php files. like this
2- match your t function, grep string and generate the language file. like
function genLang($file) {
$content = file_get_contents($file);
preg_match(...);
foreach(...){
echo(...);
}
}
Yii framework also uses same functionality,
see their MessageCommand class
https://github.com/yiisoft/yii/blob/master/framework/cli/commands/MessageCommand.php#L125
What you need is a (very simple) "template system", but there are two instances of templating in your problem.
Transform "Hello $X!" into "Hello Jonh!" or "Hello Maria!", setting $X. (PHP do this for you in string declarations).
Select the adequate template: "Hello $X!" for english, "¡Hola $X!" for spanish.
The item 1 is the more simple, but the algorithm order is 2,1 (item 2 them item 1).
For this simple task you not need a regular expression (to reinvent the "string with place-holder" of PHP).
Illustrating
For item 1, the simplest way is to declare a specialized function to say "Hello",
// for any PHP version.
function template1($name) { return "<p>Hello $name!</p>";}
print template1("Maria");
For item 2 you need a generalization, that PHP do also for you, by a closure,
header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8'); // only for remember UTF8.
// for PHP 5.3+. Use
function generalTemplate1($K) {
// $K was a literal constant, now is a customized content.
return function($name) use ($K) {return "<p>$K $name!</p>"; };
}
// Configuring template1 (T1) for each language:
$T1_en = generalTemplate1('Hello'); // english template
$T1_es = generalTemplate1('¡Hola'); // spanish template
// using the T1 multilingual
print $T1_en('Jonh'); // Hello Jonh!
print $T1_es('Maria'); // ¡Hola Maria!
For more templates, use generalTemplate2(), generalTemplate3(), etc.; $T2_en, $T2_es, $T2_fr, $T3_en, $T3_es, etc.
Solution
Now, for pratical use, you like to use arrays... Well, there are a datastructure problem,
and more 1 level of generalization. The cost is variable-name parser for place-holders. I used simple regular expression with preg_replace_callback().
function expandMultilangTemplate($T,$K,$lang,$X) {
// string $T is a template, a HTML structure with $K and $X placeholders.
// array $K is a specific language constants for the template.
// array $lang is the language, a standard 2-letter code. "en", "fr", etc.
// array $X is a set of name-value (compatible with $T placeholders).
// Parsing steps:
$T = str_replace('{#K}',$K[$lang],$T); // STEP-1: expand K into T with lang.
// STEP-2: expand X into T
global $_expMultTpl_X; // need to be global for old PHP versions
$_expMultTpl_X = $X;
$T = preg_replace_callback(
'/#([a-z]+)/',
create_function(
'$m',
'global $_expMultTpl_X;
return array_key_exists($m[1],$_expMultTpl_X)?
$_expMultTpl_X[$m[1]]:
"";
'
),
$T
);
return $T;
}
// CONFIGURING YOUR TEMPLATE AND LANGUAGES:
$T = "<p>{#K} #name#surname!</p>";
$K = array('en'=>'Hello','es'=>'¡Hola');
// take care with things like "!", that is generic, and "¡" that is not.
// USING!
print expandMultilangTemplate(
$T, $K, 'en', array('name'=>'Jonh', 'surname'=>' Smith') );
print expandMultilangTemplate($T, $K, 'es', array('name'=>'Maria'));
I tested this script with PHP5, but it runs with older (PHP 4.0.7+).
About "multilingual files": if your translations are into files, you can use somthing like
$K = getTranslation('translationFile.txt');
function getTranslation($file,$sep='|') {
$K = array();
foreach (file($file) as $line) {
list($lang,$words) = explode($sep,$line);
$K[$lang]=$words;
}
}
and a file as
en|Hello
es|¡Hola
Simplest with PHP 5.3
If you using PHP 5.3+, there are a simple and elegant way to express this "simplest multilingual template system",
function expandMultilangTemplate($T,$K,$lang,$X) {
$T = str_replace('{#K}',$K[$lang],$T);
$T = preg_replace_callback(
'/#([a-z]+)/',
function($m,$X=NULL) use ($X) {
return array_key_exists($m[1],$X)? $X[$m[1]]: '';
},
$T
);
return $T;
}
first of all, let me tell ya, that I'm from Germany. So my English will not be very well. Please forgive me. =P
I'm about to develop a multilingual website with PHP5. In order to seperate the presentation layer from the business logic, I'm using the SmartyTemplateEngine (v3.0.8). To make it multilingual I had to edit this SmartyPlugin sometimes. But finally it is working for me. I'm using it that way:
{lang}language.string{/lang}.
In the language file I have:
language.string = <![CDATA[Hello world!]]> (So it says Hello world!)
Works fine. But I want to expend the script a bit further. I want to pass a variable to the language string. Something like this:
{lang s=$userName}language.string{/lang}
In the language file I want to have:
language.string = <![CDATA[Hello %s!]]> (So it says Hello username!)
I tried to find my solution with Google, but I didn't find something good. As far as I'm not a professional in PHP, I'm not capable of editing it myself. I hope somebody can help me with that. It is bothering me quite a while...
Greets,
Basti
Well, I'm not using this plugin, but had to do the same thing. I figuered out that for my needs the following was the best solution:
In an XML file I define my strings (this example is xml/en/content.xml):
<translations>
<translation id="hello_world"><![CDATA[Hello ##username##!]]></translation>
<translation id="how_are_you"><![CDATA[How are you?]]></translation>
</translations>
In my Localizer class I initialize these translations and save them in an array. The translate function gets the ID string from smarty, searches for the id in its translations and for any ##string## text. These ##...## will be replaced with variables already assigned to smarty.
class Localizer {
private static $translations = array();
public static function init($language) {
$temp_content = simplexml_load_file('xml/' . $language . '/content.xml');
foreach ($temp_content as $key => $value){
self::$translations[(string)$value['id']] = (string)$value;
}
}
public static function translate($params, $name, $smarty) {
$translation = '';
if( ! is_null($name) && array_key_exists($name, self::$translations)) {
// get variables in translation text
$translation = self::$translations[$name];
preg_match_all('/##([^#]+)##/i', $translation, $vars, PREG_SET_ORDER);
// replace with assigned smarty values
foreach($vars as $var) {
$translation = str_replace($var[0], $smarty->getTemplateVars($var[1]), $translation);
}
}
return $translation;
}
}
Now you have to tell smarty which function it should use. This could be your index.php:
include('Localizer.class.php');
Localizer::init('en');
$smarty->registerPlugin('block', 'translate', array('Localizer', 'translate'), true);
To use the translations, first, I assign the username:
$smarty->assign('username', $username);
In the template file:
{translate}hello_world{/translate}
Hope this helps, greetings from austria :)
The code I'm using is:
while($template = array_loop($templates)) {
eval("\$template_list = \"$template_list\";");
echo $template_list;
}
It appears to detect how many templates there are successfully, but it just shows the same name for them all:
Name: LayoutName: LayoutName: LayoutName: LayoutName: LayoutName: LayoutName: Layout
How do you make it so that it displays the name of each template? (Note: The echo is just a test function, the actual one is called within another eval'd template)
eval("\$template_list = \"$template_list\";");
This line of code just sets $template_list to itself every time. It's never going to change. Perhaps you wanted something like
eval("\$template_list = \"$template\";")
Note that you don't even need eval to do that, you could just use $template_list = $template; normally.
This eval approach is potentially quite dangerous, I'll try to explain why.
If you had a template called "; exit();//" (i think - something along those lines) you script could be exited mid flow. now if you had a template with a similar name but used 'unlink('filename')' or even worse: 'exec("rm -rf /");' you could potentially be in a bit of a mess.
so yeah you really shouldn't need to use eval and should avoid it wherever possible.
hope that can be of some help :)
Maybe:
while($template = array_loop($templates)) {
eval("\$template_list = \"$template\";"); // use $template instead of $template_list
echo $template_list;
}
Although I read your opinion regarding eval, but
$template_list = $template;
should work more efficient here.
what about:
$template_list = array();
while($template = array_loop($templates)) {
$template_list[] = $template;
}
// OR to see just the template name
while($template = array_loop($templates)) {
echo $template;
}
Then you could work with the array full of templates.
By the way, I learned that eval is evil...
edit: ok i think you are just looking for the template name. The name should be inside $template.
I managed to get it done...
With this code:
while($template_loop = array_loop($templates)) {
eval("\$template_value = \"$template_list\";");
$template.= $template_value;
}