making multi-lingual modules

New Member Joined: Jan 18, 2008 Posts: 20

hi, i make modules a lot but only for english, and was looking over how the site handles for multiple languages

I noticed in the coding it was something like __WELCOME__ , and was wondering how to incorporate this and also what function of php this is so i can read up on it some more

I guess it would be some sort of variable but i am puzzled Question

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:40 pm

In your module index page;
after you 'include' mainfile.php
ensure you name the module, it could be

Code:




$module_name = 'whatever';

then to get the languages you simply do

Code:

 get_lang($module_name);

Don't forget to make sure you have a 'language' folder in the modules directory and atleast the lang-english.php file or it will fall over.

You then need to replace ALL hard coded text in the module with constants and then define each constant in the language file.
The __WELCOME__ you refer to in your post is the language constant - this is the bit that gets translated.

Within nuke there is a naming convention you have to stick to - constants must start with an underscore and the rest of it must in all in uppercase, so the example you gave should actually be _WELCOME

Just for some free extra advice;
Do not include any HTML formating in your language files
Do not use any variables in your language files

Anything else I can help you with with regard to using languages, just ask, it is no problem.

Edit Note: I fixed $module to $module_name in the get_lang() call.

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:40 pm

lang-french.php

define('_WELCOMETO','Bienvenue sur');

lang-dutch.php
define('_WELCOMETO','Welkom');

etc etc

Depanding how you use php define calls can be used various however the are alway's use CAPS.
example:
$modifiedSitename = _WELCOMETO.' '.$sitename;
or:
echo '<a href="index.php"><img src="themes/Anagram/images/logo.gif" align="left" alt="'._WELCOMETO.' '.$sitename.'" border="0" /></a></td>';

A good methode to use for example a downloads module is to use:

define('_DOWNLOAD_WELCOME','Welcome ....etc etc');

Like this you avoid mixing up definitions

Grtzzz wHiTeHaT

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:50 pm

All the underscore names are definitions in your language files
They are all in the files
modules/MODULENAME/languages/lang-LANGUAGE.php