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

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!!

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];  
}

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

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');

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;
}

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.